~ Saying Goodbye To The Marine Corps ~

I can not believe how quickly these past five years have gone. 

Our original plan was to make the Marine Corps Aaron career, but, I'm sure everyone knows, things rarely go to plan. 

I was shocked when we received the news that Aaron was not accepted for reenlistment. We knew there was only three spots and eleven people all trying to get one of those spots.

 At first, I did not take the news well; however, over time, I have come to realize that Heavenly Father has a different plan for our family. 

I have loved being apart of the Marine Corps family, and could not be prouder of Aaron and everything he has achieved. 

Here are some highlights from the last five years . . .

Aaron finished boot camp and we were married a week later.

He then left three days later for combat training. It sucked being a newlywed and not having your husband around. (It was good practice for when he would be gone a lot more later)

A month later, he graduated and was headed up to Monterey.

I was in awe that here we were, newlyweds, living less than fifty feet from the beach.

Monterey was beautiful! 

We loved walking on the beach, heading down Cannery Row, and exploring Carmel.

After Monterey, Aaron was stationed in Oceanside. 

We literally went from one beautiful beach to another beautiful beach.

One thing I liked to do was to visit Aaron at work. 

We would pack a picnic lunch for all of us or bring dinner if he was on night duty.

 The worst part about being a military family was always having to say goodbye.

From June 2012 till October 2014 Aaron was home for about six months here and there. 

In November 2013 Aaron deployed to Afghanistan for nine months. 

It was really hard to be apart for that long but thankfully family was never too far away.

Thank goodness for technology. We were able to facetime/skype wherever Aaron was. 

Aaron's fear was Hannah would forget who he was and she would't come running to him when he came home. That fear never played out. Hannah always knew who her Daddy was. In fact, she spotted him sometimes before I did.

We loved having countdowns.

(F.Y.I those kisses from Daddy didn't last very long. Hannah and I started eating two or three a day.)

At first, it seemed like those countdown were not moving, but eventually it was amazing how quickly the time went.

 

I loved homecoming!

I made Hannah a lot of homecoming t shirts.

I can't imagine how much time we spent waiting at the airport for Aaron. 

The best homecoming happened when Aaron came home from Afghanistan. 

(video at the bottom of the post)

I loved seeing these two reunited.

Our little family was whole again.

In five years, we went from newlyweds to a family of four.

It has been a crazy adventure and I can't wait to see what the future brings for the Craig Family.

I know these are random but I love these picture of Hannah with Aaron's cover on.

~ Another Trip To Seaworld ~

With Aaron getting out of the Marine Corps, we knew this was the last time we could use our free passes. Seaworld is very pro military and do a wonderful thing by letting service men and women in once a year for free! Last time we took advantage of this offer, it was Hannah's second birthday. She loved looking at all the animals and especially the pet show.

 I was eager to see if she would be more excited now that she is older. We arrived at Seaworld just after it opened. The weather had been pretty gloomy the pass couple days so luckily it was still nice and cool. It took a while for the sun to break through the clouds which made watching the shows a lot more bearable, especially with a one month old. I loved watching Hannah's face as we saw the different animals and watched the shows. She truly is an animal lover : )

Hannah loves the Killer Whales. She kept cheering and telling me those were her whales : )

Hannah loves turtles! 

(don't worry she is not sitting on a real turtle)

We ate lunch at the same place we did last time. Except this time it seemed a lot fancier. Hannah got some penne pasta and homemade chips. I got half a chicken (which was delicious) and some homemade chips (also delicious) and Aaron got a burger. It was nice to sit and relax for half hour before continuing around the park.

Aaron and Hannah wanted to feed the stingrays. Hannah was very brave until it touched her then she had no interest in them anymore. 

Lilly did AMAZING! She ate and slept and that was it. She was content laying in Daddy's arms or in her carrier. I love how melo she is. 

When the sun came out around 3pm, we decided to call it a day.

The best part about a busy day at Seaworld was the girls passed out in the car ride home : )

click here to see our last seaworld trip

~ Our First Month With Lilly Belle ~

It is hard to believe my Lilly Belle is already one month old. It seemed that those nine months were never going to end, and now I get to cuddle her everyday! 

Lilly is such a good sleeper. I do a late night feeding around ten or eleven and then an early morning feeding around four or five. She eats and then heads back to sleep rather quickly. 

Lilly also loves her food. When we left the hospital she weighed seven pounds fourteen ounces, at her two day appointment she weighed eight pounds four ounces! She has continued to put on weight and is now eating around four to five ounces every feeding. I swear Lilly is either eating or sleeping : ) 

Lilly is my blue eyed, blonde hair baby (although sometimes I swear it looks red.)

She is such a sweet calm baby and the perfect edition to our little family.

We all love her so much!

~ Lilly Belle's Birth Story ~

On Wednesday May 6th, I went to my 39 week appointment. I was one centimeter dilated, so the doctor decided to strip my membranes. I thought for sure I was going to go into labor that day. . . . . . but nothing happened. In fact, it seemed like Lilly was even more comfortable right where she was. Thursday was pretty much the same. I had none of the symptoms that were common with having your membranes stripped. 

Friday, I went about my day as normal.  We ran some errands, Erin, Hannah and I went on a walk, and I ate a delicious cheeseburger for dinner. At 6pm, I was sitting on my bed when I had this sudden urge to go to the restroom. I made it to the bathroom just as I felt a huge gush of water. I was pretty convinced that my water had just broken but was still a little unsure. I decided to wait to see if I was still leaking before calling the labor and delivery ward. At seven thirty I finally called them and was told to continue to monitor the leaking and then call back at 9pm. After another gush, I called back and we decided it would be best to come in and get checked out. We arrived at the hospital around 10:30pm (I wanted to shower and pack some last minute items.) We went into a small room where a nurse monitored my contractions and took a sample of the leakage (all this talk of leaking sounds pretty gross.) Although my water had broken, I wasn't showing signs of progression with my contractions or dilation. I had also tested positive for group b strep (GBS) which meant I wasn't able to be checked as regularly for fear of infection.
The doctor decided it would be best to put me on some pitocin to help regulate and increase my contractions. At 4am the contractions were coming in rather intense; however, I still wasn't progressing. I was only three centimeters and my cervix hadn't thinned out. I was so deflated.

The doctor recommended getting an epidural and then kicking up the pitocin dosage. This way at least I would be able to rest while the contractions became more intense. Although the epidural is AMAZING, it does leave me extremely nauseous. I did manage to get some rest inbetween vomiting. The next time I was checked was around 7am. I was just praying I had made some progress. The doctor informed me that I was now seven centimeters. and that my cervix had completely thinned out. YES, this was exactly what I wanted to hear. I continued to rest until I reached those last few centimeters, then it was time to start pushing. I had been pushing for about an hour and a half when Lilly finally made her appearance. Much like with Hannah, I was completely speechless. It was so surreal to be finally be meeting this baby that I had carried around for nine months. She was tiny, compared to Hannah, weighing in at seven pounds 5 ounces and was twenty inches long.
I can not begin to describe the instant and overwhelming love I feel for her. I am so blessed to have two beautiful little girls in my life.

I just want to take a minute to brag about my amazing husband. I could not have done labor and delivery without him. From my crying to my puking, he was right next to me telling me how great I was doing. 

He held her, fed her, and changed every diaper so I could rest. I am so in love with this guy and he is so in love with his  girls : )

~ My First Attempt Making A Rag Quilt ~

At Hannah's baby shower, my sister made her a beautiful rag quilt. Hannah loves it and uses it all the time. 

(This is where I would insert a picture of Hannah and her rag quilt; however, I can not find one picture of Hannah and her rag quilt anywhere! You will just have to trust me when I tell you she loves it.) 

I wanted to make one for Lilly because these really are the cutest quilts EVER!

It's not perfect but I am extremely happy with how it turned out.

Here is how I did it : 

#1. Pick your fabric. I went with flannel because it is really soft.

My quilt is five squares by five squares so I pick five different, half a yard, fabric patterns. 

.

#2. Cut fabric into eight by eight inch squares.

I ended up cutting 50 eight by eight inch squares . . . . this was by far the most time consuming part.

 

#3. Place the fabric ugly sides together.

This will give you twenty five squares.

#4. Sew around all twenty five squares leaving a half inch boarder.

#5. Lay all the squares on the floor and arrange them into the pattern you like.

#6. Start pinning each horizontal row together. Then sew along the same half an each line from before.

#7. Now pin the horizontal rows together. Making sure the top of the fabric is facing up and the bottom is facing down. This way you will see if the top is folding over when it goes through the machine. (I hope that makes sense.)

#8. Time to start snipping. 

Snip along all the squares being careful not to snip into the thread.

#9. Once done, place into the washing machine with no detergent. Once the cycle is done shake off all the fluff. Then place into the dryer with no dryer sheet.

 Repeat the process, this time with detergent and a dryer sheet.

#10. ALL DONE! 

Once Lilly Belle is here I will definitely post a picture of her with her quilt : )

If you need more detailed instructions YouTube has a ton of how to videos. 

This is my favorite : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-LQfYXrG_Q