Life currently

This last week (month?) has been so crazy for me. We are planning on flying Winston home tomorrow and that has consumed so many hours of my life this whole last month. If anyone needs to know anything about flying a bulldog from Japan to the USA I think I know everything now! Duke's sister came into town on Friday and we are sending him back with her. I honestly am not even 100% sure it's going to work, so I have been pretty stressed out about it.

I also got to play host to 4 Japanese students on Thursday for a few hours. They were here with their school from Niigata (somewhat near Tokyo). We got to practice english with them, take them to some sites around the island and feed them lunch. They were all 14 and had so much enthusiasm it really made the whole experience so fun. The first time we drove up a hill and they could see the ocean all the girls started screaming and freaking out. It made me laugh but I loved it!! We fed them PB&J for lunch and it was some of their first times having peanut butter!!! When they left they asked for my email to stay in touch and told me they miss me. Haha, seriously made my day!

Lucy is still cute as ever. She had a really rough day on Saturday that made me say if my next kid is a Lucy I'm done having kids! Ha. She just cried and whined the entire day. It was so rough on me. I think she may have been teething. She doesn't have all her 2 year old molars yet. I've learned that Lucy does not have a high pain tolerance. She has made it loud and clear each time she has had any tooth come through!

The weather here has been starting to get warmer and sunnier which has made me so happy and ignites my adventurous soul! We had a week or two in early February where it was cold (50's) and rainy and windy everyday. May not sound too bad, but I promise if you had been here you would have been freezing. Seeing the sun after that was basically the best thing ever. I'm ticking through my bucket list every weekend with Duke, trying to make the most of these last few months here in Okinawa! Although I keep adding things to my bucket list every week!

I made reading one of my goals this year. Last year I think I read 2 books. It was horrible! This year I finally finished Daring Greatly by Brene Brown. One of the best books I've ever read. Changed my life I might even say. (I'm a big nonfiction lover.) Read Talking as Fast as I can by Lauren Graham-actually listened to it on audible which was read by her. I really loved this book! Much more than I had expected to. Recently finished Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton. I thought it was so great. It made me realize the importance of speaking what you feel and also sitting through your pain vs. numbing it or trying to push it aside. I'm halfway through If you ask me (and of course you won't) by Betty White. I'm not sure if I'll finish it. It's pretty boring and just not what I expected. I love Betty White, but I was expecting more sage wisdom or how she got from here to there. It's none of that ha. Currently I'm listening to Shoe Dog by Phil Knight on audible and really enjoying it. He's the founder of Nike shoes.

I still have a few more posts from our Kyoto trip last July! Hoping to finish those soon and move onto my more recent adventures!

Currently

Reading: Rising Strong by Brene Brown. I have loved her TED talks and articles I have come across on the web, so I decided to check out her most recent book. I'm only a few pages in, so we shall see. Next on my list is Love and Logic bc I need parenting help. And The One Thing which Duke is currently reading and says he thinks this book will help me bc I'm all over the place ha.

Listenting: Freakonomics podcast. Such an interesting podcast. I've really enjoyed their  recent episodes- "how to be great at just about anything" and "how to be more productive". Also listening to the Seize the Day playlist on spotify and I'd say it makes my day more "seizable" if you will.

Going: Planning on FINALLY going to the Kerama islands over memorial day weekend. These islands have some of the prettiest beaches in all of Japanland. They have been on my list forever but just haven't made it out there for so many reasons.

Looking forward to: Keramas trip AND finally getting scuba certified!! My goal is to get it done this month. Okinawa has some amazing diving and I just think it would be a crying shame to not get certified out here. So I'm DOING IT!

Appreciating: Lucy. I recently wrote a post on facebook asking for book recommendations bc she can be a monster sometimes. I was in this "woe is me, what did I do to deserve this child" mode of thinking. Then last night I came across some random post on instagram about this lady who lost her 4 1/2 month old after she had already been born 9 weeks early and had an unknown disorder. They never even got to bring her home from the hospital during her short life. I cried and thought even if Lucy is a monster I'm SO happy she is healthy. What a blessing. I'd rather have a crazy terrible child who is here and healthy than something much worse. And honestly she's not that bad all the time. She has her moments like all toddlers. It's all about perspective!

Enjoying: My husbands job-wait, what?! In February Duke got sent to do a different ground job assignment with a different unit and it has been so awesome! He never has to work late, like ever and it is so much more stress free. It's been nothing short of life changing for us both. I almost wish he could just do this job forever. He still leaves town but as far as day-to-day life, I feel like I finally have a husband who is home and happy and helping. It's amazing!

Drinking: Bai. These drinks are soooo good. I'm not really into infused water, but I love trying new drinks that look cute. I'm a sucker for good packaging. So at the airport in the US I grabbed the coconut flavored one, even thinking it's probably not that good. But I was so very pleasantly surprised! It only has 5 calories per serving, which is great bc I hate drinking my calories (i'd rather eat them) and they use stevia to sweeten it which is supposedly better than aspartame. So as soon as I got home I looked these up on amazon and they were actually listed as the same price they are in the US, so I was like gimme! I'm trying to quit the Diet Coke habit again..we'll see how that goes.

Watching: Recently finished The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. One of my favorite TV shows of all time possibly. But trying to not spend my days watching TV. In fact I think we may cancel Netflix, gasp! Oh and we are selling our TV--who are we???!! Please still be friends with us.

Wishing: I was more motivated to blog the fun things I did the last 5 months. I have so many photos I would love to blog about but have been so busy until recently it just has not happened. One day...

Currently.

Reading: Nothing! How embarrassing. The last book I read was Zero to Five: 70 essentials parenting tips based on science. SUCH A GOOD BOOK! If you're a parent that is, otherwise probably pretty boring. Mindy Kaling's new book just came out Why Not Me and I can't wait to get my paws on that. I prefer the audiobook when the author is a comedian, but I think I'll get this one on kindle next! Absolutely loved her first book.

Eating: A lot of smoothies lately of the strawberry-banana persuasion. They have been my "sugar-fix" lately. Ok and chocolate chips. Also have made these taco lettuce wraps a few times this month.

Thinking about: I've been having a lot of thoughts on the pressures around us to be more. I feel like I'm constantly bombarded with quotes and messages on Pinterest and Instagram that are 100% meant to be inspirational. Messages that are telling the audience to stop being a dreamer and start doing. Or work today so you'll be happy tomorrow. Lately they are making me feel like i'm supposed to be doing more. Like being just a mom is so basic. I realize that is not the intention, but that is how I'm feeling! Entrepreneurial moms seem to be all the rage these days. Ladies who work from home, making money, and are still a wonderful mother. I think that is great, if that's what you want to do. I follow an Instagram account @heymamaco that features many of these moms. And it's made me feel like a bit of a bum. Everyone seems to have an Etsy shop or some kind of side business or sews cool dresses, or diaper bags or what not on top of motherhood. Recently I've been thinking....but what if I'm happy RIGHT NOW doing what I'm doing right now? Is that allowed??? I don't make any money and I'm OK with that. We have everything we need and I like having this time with just Lucy and the tiny amount of free time I have to myself. It seems like my social media feeds are screaming at me to DO MORE! Well I don't want to right now!! I want to live in this moment and enjoy it. Perhaps there is not something I am more passionate about right now. I want to focus on being a mom right now. A slower pace to life has become important to me as I've gotten older. I've realized I'm happier when I'm not running around like a chicken with my head is chopped off.

Looking forward to: A lot this month! My birthday is a couple weeks, Lucy's birthday is the end of this month AND I get to fly home to Arkansas (for just a week!) to be at my best friends wedding. Looking forward to that the most! I'm excited to see my parents and younger siblings, as well as for them to get some Lucy time. It will be a real treat. (only dreading the flight by myself with a mobile child..ahhh..prayers please).

Enjoying: Friends. They've been getting me through while Duke is gone. I'm so lucky to have met so many wonderful ladies out here and to have my old roommate out here! They make the long days shorter and the hard days easier. I'm grateful I have them to vent about anything with, to laugh with and have fun with. It's also huge to have friends who are in the same military situation as me. It's kind of hard to hear people complain that "they're husband got home at 7 today-ugh!" or "my husband is leaving for the weekend! I'm so sad". I understand their feelings are legitimate-anything out of the ordinary is hard. But it's just really hard to hear that when sometimes I go to bed without seeing my husband and he's usually gone for at least a week at a time. You know what I'm saying?! It helps so much to be in this community!

Learning: How to get a baby to sleep who doesn't want to! I don't even know where to start. She has been a great sleeper the last 5 months, but once she figured out how to stand up in her crib it was all over. It's been a rough 3 weeks. And the only naps we're getting is driving around. The only "me-time" I've had is a couple hours after she's down and before I go to bed-which I've mostly spent FaceTimeing with Duke. Oh the life of a mother!! If she wasn't so cute..

Loving: Okinawa. I feel lucky to live here. Not everyone feels that way and I feel sad for those who don't. This tiny island is filled with so much beauty. I'll probably never live so close to the beach again (10 minute walk/2 min drive). I'll never live surrounded by another culture so different from my own. So many unique situations I encounter here that I probably won't again. Every once and a while it hits me hard how much I love this place and the people that live on it. It's a special place for sure.

Ok, I feel like I complained a lot in this post--I'm sorry. This blog is supposed to be about happy things. But sometimes life gets to me! This month has been harder on me than any other time with Duke gone (not sure why). I try so hard to be positive everyday, so forgive my few complaints here. Life is good.

Also, I got the idea for this post from Something Sweet. She has a link up if you want to participate too.