It's been a while!

It's been a while since I've done a new post. Clay and I are expecting our 2nd baby! We're very excited. I am currently in my 14th week. Clay just went to the boat to CQ in the Prowler. He did wonderful and got Top Hook (the best at the boat!). I am very proud of him. He is going to be attached to the VAQ-139 Cougars and will deploy early next year. Clay will unfortunately miss the birth and the first 8-9 months of our baby's life. I am very saddened by this, but there isn't really anything we can do...it's the Navy! Kaylee is getting so big! She's officially transitioned to her toddler bed and has slept perfectly in it for the past 4 nights...next will come potty training in a few months (Mommy doesn't want two babies in diapers!!). Life is hectic and crazy, but we're enjoying the time we have with Clay before he starts work ups and deploys!

Kaylee is a big girl!

Well, we got Kaylee her first big girl bed! It's just a toddler bed, but it's absolutely adorable. I plan to retire the lady bugs in her room and paint some new artwork for her room in the coming weeks (think butterflys and flowers). She has a pink and green growth chart that will match perfectly in her "new" room! I plan to leave some of the lady bug stuff in the room, but most of it will come out. I"m thinking about selling the lady bug stuff as a set. A lot of crib stuff isn't really that pratical and even if we had another girl in the future, I don't see us using it since we'll just use a sheet and the breathable bumper. Anyway, pictures of the "new" room will come soon! How exciting.

Running...for a cause! :-)

Well, I got something in the mail today for fundraising. It's with the VA Beach Half and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to raise money to fight blood cancer. I thought.."I'm already running it...why not raise money for a good cause too?!?" So, if you're reading this and feel the need...donate in my name to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and help find a cure!

https://mch.dojiggy.com/pledge/index.cfm?585F22080E7478726706117F7F70677637525E3271077C02087705

New countertops!

Well, Clay and I are finally getting rid of those old baby blues! Thursday we're having the installer come over and install new formica countertops and a tile backsplash. We would love to do granite, but at this point in time, we just can't afford it. Formica has come a long way though and I can't wait to see what it looks it! :-)

Update on the floors

Well, we had a plumber come out Friday to look at the floord and I am ecstatic to report the it seems they are fine! I am sooo happy to hear this. I was terrified it was going to cost us thousands to fix both of our bathroom floors. I am soo thankful it is okay!!

So frustrating...I need to escape!

I am so excited about Kentucky! Soooo excited. I can't wait to see my family and some good friends and escape from this place. Things here have been so stressful, frustrating, and just overwhelming. We are having a plumber come tomorrow. Apparently Clay wasn't totally knowledgable (not blaming him...he did the best he could) when it came time to removing and replacing a toilet (he did this when he put the new vinyl tiles in both of the bathrooms)....so we are having a plumber come out tomorrow to 1. replace the wax seal that Clay should have replaced when he put the toilets back and 2. look at the flooring to see if we (hopefully not!) will have to replace the vinyl and subfloor. Sooo frustrating. It just feels like one thing after another. First, the Jeep had to have some work on it that wasn't (conveniently) covered under the warranty for a total of $1000 and now this! I am just praying it's not going to cost us a ton of money! We just had our double doors replaced into one, Clay went to Fl, Clay bought a bike, and I just bought the plane ticket to KY....lots of expenses lately! Too many expenses! Please pray that it works out and that the toilets haven't leaked and that we don't need new subflooring!

We're going to Kentucky and VA Beach!

Well...Kaylee and I are officially going to Kentucky and I am going to VA Beach in August/September! For 2 weeks, I will have the opportunity to visit with friends and family in Kentucky and VA Beach and let me tell you...I am excited!! My sister in law, Jill, is going to come up from Key West. Kaylee and I will finally get to meet precious little Makenlee! I am going to get to go to VA Beach and visit with two of the greatest gals ever AND run a half marathon with them (sans Kaylee!)....can I say how excited I am for a girl's weekend without a little one?!?! I LOVE Kaylee with all of my heart...but it's been long time since I've had a girl's night/weekend all to myself! Call me selfish, but I am sooo excited to enjoy myself...especially since Clay goes to the boat in August and will likely be deployable very soon after that! Who knows when the next time I'll get this chance will be! Sooooo excited!!!!! :o)

The Marathon!

Well, today I started and finished my first marathon. It was rough, but I completed it. I was aiming to not walk and make it in 4 hours. While I did walk about a mile (part of which were for the drink stations) and stop to help a girl that fell down about three quarters of a mile before the finish, I still managed to complete the marathon in under 4 hours (a finishing time of 3:57:49). I am proud of myself because it was a tough course. There is a killer hill that runs from mile 6.5 to mile 7.7. The only thing that got me up the hill was that I saw Kaylee up at that top! I stopped and gave her a kiss...and it made it all better! ;-) I finished 15th for the women (out of 103) and I am proud of that! Mike and I kicked butt! :-)

Ahh the world of VAQ 129! and other stuff

Well, Clay found out today that he will not be going to the June boat. The May boat was cancelled and all of the guys that would have been on the May boat are being pushed back to the June boat, subsequently pushing Clay back to the next boat (in August). He is a little saddened by this. He was really looking forward to getting to fly more and get to the boat. He hasn't flow since last week and now that the other guys have been pushed back, he will probably continue to move extremely slow. Who knows when his next flight will be. Such is the life in VAQ 129.

My work has cut back on my hours. Things are slow...we will see where I end up with this job and how things play out in the next few months. I may be unemployed or working very few hours in the next months...who knows. Hopefully, things will pick up. It's unfortunate that such a good company (for the local community and to it's employees) is facing tough times because of the tough economy.

The marathon is Sunday! Crazy to think about. I am a little (read a LOT) nervous. I am trying to not think about it. It's just another run. I just really don't want to walk and I REALLY want to do it in 4 hours. The course is insanely hilly though (insanely!!!!) and it may prove to be a limiting factor on my ability to tough it out. We will see! :-)

Other than this...not too much going on. Kaylee is getting big and trying soo hard to talk. Her vocab is growing (though it takes a lot to understand her). She says yes, no, wow, eat, mom, dad, woof, milk, and a few others that I can't think of at the moment. If you really listen, she can say some colors: red, blue, green. She also points to her head and says head, ears, eyes. If you ask her where her ears are, she points to her head (same for eyes and nose and lips). :-) We're working on it lol. She's just so fun and I am amazed by how our love for her grows soo much everyday! She's absolutely beautiful. :-)

I got an iPhone!

Well, I have been patiently waiting for the special day when AT&T finally would give me a discount on a new iPhone....today was that special day! I really wanted a white one, but they didn't have any. At first, the plan was for me to get Clay's old iPhone and him get a new one...but I thought that was a little unfair and I didn't want a handme done phone lol. So, Clay settled and will get his bigger spaced iPhone in November when his special date comes around and I got to get my new iPhone all to myself! I even got a special purple/pink cover! ;-) Sooooo excited!

22 mile run yesterday morning

Well, Mike and I ran (walked .75 of it because I just couldn't hang any more) 22 miles yesterday morning. It was tough. I definitely slowed down A LOT during the last portion of the run. It makes me a little worried about the marathon....but I will finish the marathon (even if it kills me!!!). My original goal was to simply run the whole thing and then I got a little ambitious and pushed my goal up to 4:30 and running the whole thing...then I got really ambitious and decided Mike and I could do it in 4:00. Hmmm....I am not sooo sure about that any more! I definitely think the 4:30 is still capable but I am not naive and I know it will be difficult. Hopefully, the adrenaline of the race will get me through the last portion of the race. HOPEFULLY. Otherwise...I just might die! ;-)

Greunke Happenings

Well, it's less than a month away until the big marathon day! Crazy to think about. I have run 19 miles so far. We're going to try for 22 next weekend. It's tough, I am not going to lie. I had hopes of doing the marathon in 4 hours, but I am starting to really rethink that goal. A 4 hour marathon time means a 9:09 average pace. That's not exactly tough, but the hills on this marathon will be the death of me! It's a really tough marathon course (much much much much tougher than my half-marathon course which was flat). I have run 16, 18, and 19 now and I tend to hit a huge wall around mile 15. I don't stop and I usually stay at pace (though yesterdays run we slowed down immensely) but I just don't know if I can keep it up for another 7 miles! That's crazy. So, this next weekend's run will be a good testament to what I can do since we'll be getting in the 20's. It's purely a mental thing, that's for sure. So, I have decided that this is my first and last marathon! After a half - marathon, you feel good. After 19 miles, your body feels like it's going to callapse and your bladder feels like it's been tortured! I think from now on out, I'll stick with the half-marathons!

Clay's sister, Erin, should be coming to visit us soon! I am excited about that. She came back in November for work and she has to revisit to the cite she worked at in November, so we get to see her again! I am excited. It should be fun. Hopefully, it'll be nice, sunny, and warm when she comes.

Clay's mom is coming sometime this summer. I am also excited about that. She hasn't seen Kaylee since December so it'll be nice to have Kaylee see Grammy again. :-)

Clay should start to fly any day, hopefully, since he is slated for the June boat. Hopefully.

That's about all that we have going on right now. Nothing too exciting!

San Fran tomorrow!

Well, tomorrow Kaylee and I are boarding a plane to San Fran to meet Siobhan, Emily and some other Lemoore girls to celebrate Siobhan's b-day and run a 10K together. I am so excited. :-)

Our new front yard!

Some before pictures of the yard:




Some beautiful after pictures:

16 miles yesterday

Well, I did 16 miles yesterday and though I was in a little pain, for the most part I felt great. Though it was longer (2 miles) than last week's run, I felt much more energized at the end of the run. It was BEAUTIFUL out yesterday so it was nice to be able to enjoy the sunlight and the warm weather! Next week, we're tackling 18 miles! Then, the week after that Kaylee and I head to San Fran to celebrate Siobhan's b-day and run the 10K! I can't wait!

New Yard!

We're getting a new front yard! I am sooo excited. They're going to begin working on the yard next week. We got a quote and it came in less than we expected (we thought we would have to do the sod...but the quote came in lower than we thought WITH them doing the sod!). Clay has been working his butt off the past few days and has cleared out the rocks and almost all of the shrubs beside the house (he left one bush because they're going to move it to the side of the yard). It's amazing to think that I could have a new, usable yard in just a week or two! Sooooo awesome!

13.76 mile run today

Well, I officially got my butt kicked in today's run! Officially! We were suppossed to do 14 miles, but I just couldn't do it. My back, butt, and hips were in some serious pain. Even still, it is officially the longest run I have EVER done! Yay for a 16 mile run next weekend! Craziness....to think that in a few weeks I will look back on these almost 14 miles and complete it again as an "easy" run is just crazy!

Sometimes you just need a night!

Clay went to a roller skating party tonight to celebrate a friend's birthday and I, since we don't have a babysitter, stayed in. I had plans of cleaning the house, but Clay was wonderful enough to do some stuff today while I was at work....so I am giving up the cleaning and just enjoying my night! I am going to make me a cup of coffee and watch the opening ceremony to the olympics. :-) I just did my toes....sometimes you just need a night to yourself. :-)

12 mile run today!

Today, I did 12 miles. It was a beautiful run. We ran the West Beach hill and it was beautiful. It goes right beside the water and the fog was at a high today, so it was a really beautiful sight! I did encounter a jerk that swirved a corner on the rainy road and slid and almost hit me. He was going way too fast. Jerk! Other than the near run in with the Honda it was truly a beautiful run. :-)

Busy, busy, busy!

Life here is busy! With working part-time (again...I don't know how full-time moms do it!), taking care of Kaylee, training for the marathon, and somehow trying to find the time to make my house at least presentable...I am pooped! It is definitely difficult, but I try to carve out the time needed to train for the marathon because honestly it keeps me sane! Somedays I come home from work and my head is just pounding. It's not a "hard" job per se, but it has a lot of challenges and can definitely be very stressful.

Kaylee is growing like a weed! She is getting bigger and bigger and I love it. A lot of parents wish their babies wouldn't grow up (that they remained babies forever) and while I miss Kaylee's baby stage, I truly love the stage she is in now. I really do believe that they just get more and more fun as they get older. She is in everything, trying to make new "words" (I am going to start calling Kayleenese because only she can understand herself lol), running, throwing tantrums (I thought these didn't start until age 2?!?), and just loving everything about life. She's so sweet and I just love everything about her. Her hair is growing too! This morning I gave her pigtails for the first time ever! I was sooo excited that I went and bought her some hair ties because she can't use mine...they're just not pretty enough. ;-)

Clay is being scheduled pretty much every night. Some nights he does get cancelled, but for the most part he is going up. While I wish I could say this was good, it's only backseat flights and they don't really count for anything...merely a fill in time until he can actually fly (he has enough back seat hours but they don't have enough prowlers that actually work so he is stuck just flying more backseat hours to waste the time away).

Saturday, after running my 12 miles and after Clay gets done with his sim, we're going to Seattle. A few people from my high school graduating class are up near the Seattle area so Kaylee, Clay, and I are going to meet them at the Cheesecake Factory (YUMMY!!!) to have a little reunion! I can't wait to eat some yummy cheesecake. Sunday we'll get our taxes done (I am a LOT upset that those filing for the first time homebuyers credit can not e-file and have to paper file their returns!!!). Lots going on and another busy weekend! Maybe sometime I'll find the time to make my house "presentable"......maybe?!?

Grr.

I should have NEVER went back to school and gotten my MBA. It is so frustrating to see that money go down the drain and to know that I will probably never use it. It's so hard in this lifestyle to feel like something matters (something that I have done) but the fact is that nothing I have done matters because I will never use any of it. No matter how hard I have worked to get to where I am, I will never make the type of money that I want to. No matter how much money it has cost me, I will never see the return of it. It's so hard and so frustrating and quite frankly it just makes me mad.

Marathon training

The Whidbey Island Marathon is April 11th. It feels as though it is just around the corner. Traning is coming along. I ran 10.5 miles yesterday and I will run 12 next weekend. I am definitely more sore than when I trained for the half marathon because I am increasing a lot more per week and 11 miles was the most that the half training called for. It's amazing to think that after just 6 weeks, I could techinically go out and run a half marathon right now. I've been traning with our friend, Mike Ammendola, and he's definitely keeping me on my toes. He's fast and I'm trying to stay up! Yesterday, we ran our 10.5 miles at a 8:25 pace. We've been trying to stay at or around the 8:40 pace range. It would be amazing to run the marathong in 4 hours (a 9:00 pace)...but I don't expect that to happen so I am aiming for a 4:30 marathon time (a 10:00 pace). I can do 10 miles at a 8:25 pace, but I just don't think I can do 26 miles at a 8:25 pace! Anyway, marathon training is going great. I am loving it so far and I can't wait to take my stab at my first marathon in April! :-)

An end is in sight!

Well, Clay is "scheduled" for the June boat. Hopefully, he'll make it and not get pushed back to a later boat. While I don't want Clay to start deploying anytime soon (and a boat most evidentally means that there will be a deployment in the near future), I do want him to start flying. Next month marks the year mark since Clay has last flown. The Prowler RAG is insanely backed up and slow. Clay being scheduled for the June boat means he will start to fly within the next couple of months (hopefully very soon!). I know he is very excited about it and I am happy for him! So, an end (or a beginning rather) is in sight! :-)

Awesome day!

Today was such an awesome day. I had the day off because I have to work on Saturday. It was so nice to be able to spend time with Kaylee. We went for a 5 mile run at the most perfect time of day! It was sunny and warm and just awesomely beautiful out for the run....it didn't last too long, but I am so glad that I was able to enjoy it when I ran! Kaylee enjoyed the run just as much as I did. She talked to herself, sang, and laughed the whole run! It is days like today that make me miss staying at home. I know though that working is best right now so that we can save a little extra cash. It's not forever and I just have to remind myself that I am doing what is best for our family. It's hard working and being a mommy. I know that being a stay at home mommy is a full-time job, but working and being a full-time mommy is much harder than I ever realized. Trying to find time to get both you and someone else ready before work is a daunting task! I have soo much respect for women that work full-time and raise their children...it takes sooo much out of you. Anyway, I enjoyed my day with my little girl! :-)

Flight is booked...Kaylee and I are going to San Fran!

So, after Kim and Siobhan's visit in September so that Kim and I could run the half marathon, Siobhan got excited about running! :-) She told me that she wanted to work herself up to running a 10K. I promised her that if she worked herself up that much then I would come run the 10K with her! March will be Siobhan's first 10K. Kaylee and I will board a plane to meet Siobhan in San Fransico for her birthday weekend and we'll run the 10K on that Sunday. I am so excited. I will have a lot of making up to do for the marathon when Kaylee and I get back because I am suppossed to run 18miles that Saturday and I'll only be running 6.2 in the 10K, but that is okay....I will gladly make it up the next weekend! I can't wait to run the 10K with Siobhan and visit San Fransico!

Happy 2010!!

Happy New Years everyone! I hope you all had an amazing New Year's Eve.