Kinda funny that I thought this time would be different

When I was pregnant with Noelle, Ben was gone for 6 months of the pregnancy. He had gone off to basic training and tech school and managed to make it in just enough time for her delivery.

When I was pregnant with Ethan, Ben was gone for 3 months of the pregnancy. He was deployed to Afghanistan.

When I was pregnant with Jacob, Ben was gone for 3 weeks. He had a military training in Texas.

When I was pregnant with Sadie, Ben was gone for 4 1/2 months of the pregnancy. We had intermittent visits. He was in the White Mountains with his new job with the Pinetop Fire Department, hunting for a new home for us to move into.

Now I'm pregnant with #5 and he's gone for 2 weeks. It is only 2 weeks. I know that it is not long. He's on the Horseshoe 2 wildland fire in southern AZ. It's just kinda funny that because we're not in the military anymore and settled in our home that I thought this time would be different. I was thinking that for once he would be here for an entire pregnancy. I wonder if my belly will look bigger to him after only 2 weeks.

I miss him. The kids miss him.

I sure am not complaining though! I've got plenty of friends who are still in the military and I know firsthand the sacrifices that are made and it's nothing compared to this two weeks. Not only are they going without their loved ones for a longer period of time, but the psychological aspect of deployments is more distressing too. Thanks to all of you military families for all that you sacrifice each and every day.

Complicated next couple of weeks...

Why? Ben is gone on a wildland fire in southern Arizona for a couple of weeks. It wouldn't have been that complicated had this assignment come a few weeks ago, but it's the last week of school...end of year programs, field trips, awards assemblies, parties are all in full swing. Oh and I usually only work a few shifts a month and this month all of my shifts happen to be during these last two weeks of the month. I work my work schedule around Ben's and so this causes an issue with child care, which is hard to come by for us up here on this mountain. I don't really have anyone I trade with or anything. Everyone seems to have family up here in this small little community. My kids have really only had 2 babysitters since we've lived here. One is graduating from high school this week...I hope I can hang on to her for a bit longer. The other is a dear friend and is just like family. In fact my kids call her Grandma and my family has been so blessed to have her in our lives. She is coming to my rescue and helping me coordinate all of these crazy schedules over the next couple of weeks. I don't know what I would do without her.

Sadie turned 4 on May 12th. She was all about Rapunzel this year, or as she would say, "Reepunzel." The girl is obsessed with Rapunzel! A couple of weeks ago she couldn't get into the car and Noelle was in the car so she yelled, "Ellie, let your hair down." Ellie does have long, beautiful hair, but she opened the door to let Sadie in. She was so much fun on her birthday. Whenever the phone would ring she would run to it and frantically say that it was for her. Ben and I have called her our little treat since the day she was born and she still is such a treat! She is a sassy, spicy treat these days! She made things very easy for me despite her Rapunzel theme, she just wanted chocolate frosting and sprinkles for her cake!

Speaking of Sadie, you never know what is going to come out of her mouth. Yesterday, when Ben was leaving for the wildland fire, he stopped by the house to grab a few things and say goodbye on his way out of town. Before he came home, I explained to the kids that Dad is going to be gone for a couple of weeks because he's going to go help on a fire. I didn't want to worry the kids or anything so I didn't make it sound dangerous or anything, I just explained that we're going to miss him, we need to hurry and say our goodbyes when he gets home because he will be in a hurry, but he will be back in a couple of weeks. Well, that's just what we did. We said our goodbyes, gave hugs and kisses and stood in the driveway to wave as he drove off in the firetruck. As Ben was getting into the firetruck, Sadie yelled, "Bye Dad. I love you! I hope you don't get dead!" Both Ben and I just laughed. We have no idea where this came from. I don't think that she really understands what death is though because she didn't say it with very much concern. She just said it very matter-of-factly.

I can't close this post without talking about food a little. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a very deep appreciation for food, so I will probably talk about it quite often in my posts. I mentioned that Natalie from Perry's Plate has been one of my inspirations in the kitchen. Well, I didn't get her permission to talk about her so I hope she'll forgive me for a minute. I think she will. I really like her approach on things in the kitchen because we share some commonalities. She adds spinach to a lot of her dishes to boost vegetable intake and nutritional value. I do this too. I like to add it to eggs...my kids call it green eggs :). I add it to smoothies, quesadillas...just to name a few things. Natalie loves sweet potatoes and I do too. I am all about using these two super foods, amongst others, whenever I can. Natalie believes in whole grains. Anyone who knows me, knows that this is important to me. Anyways, Natalie just puts some fun spins on some of these foods for me and this week was no exception. If any of you are looking for a good vegetarian meal, or even if you aren't you have to give this http://www.perrysplate.com/2011/03/stacked-roasted-vegetable-enchiladas.html a try. I'm not vegetarian, but we do try to have a couple of meatless dinners each week and this recipe is a keeper at my house. While you're checking this recipe out, cruise around her site a little. A couple of weeks ago we made her energy balls for a healthier snack that my whole family loved!...and as I sit here preaching about how I like to eat healthy, I'm eating chocolate chip cookies! I never said I was giving up my treats!!

Pregnancy update...the photo below is me today at 24 weeks and 3 days pregnant. I need to dig out some photos from previous pregnancies to show you all the difference from what I think I should look like at 24 weeks pregnant. I know that I'm not huge, but I am bigger with this one than what I have been with other pregnancies so I feel like I am. I keep saying that it's because I'm in my 30's or that it's because it's my 5th. Who really knows? Onto more important things...the baby is growing well measuring in the 50th percentile. Most of you already know that Ben and I don't find out ahead of time what the gender is, but Ben will tell you that it is a boy. He didn't get a peak or anything. He just has a hunch. He has been right with the first 4 so we will see how he does this time.

Gettin' started...

Well, I finally did it! I'm a blogger. I've actually been wanting to do it for awhile. I think it's a great way to keep track of mile stones as I've seen with many of your blogs.

So, what took me so long? I attempted to start one last year, but I couldn't come up with the perfect name. I knew that I wanted to do a play on words with our awesome last name. How could I not?! Well, my inspiration for our family blog name came from my friend Jessica Gilmore. (I hope she'll forgive me for bragging about her for a minute!) She was Noelle's and is currently Ethan's 1st grade teacher and I couldn't ask for a better 1st grade teacher for my children! But, she is not just my children's teacher, she is one of my dearest friends on this mountain and we are both just too darn busy to take more advantage of our friendship... I can't wait for summer!! Anyways, back to how I got the name...Jessica and I got together to make Christmas gifts last year and as I was trying to come up with the perfect phrase to etch on the back of a serving dish for my in-laws she came up with "We're Altop Notch." Isn't it perfect? Thanks Jess!

So why am I blogging now? Here are some reasons:

1) I am a blog voyeur! I love reading blogs. Some of you know I've been watching you, but I think most of you do not.

2) I am inspired by many of these blogs that I've been stocking! I have been inspired in different ways by your blogs. For example I am inspired in the kitchen by my friend Natalie with her Perry's Plate blog and I am inspired by my BFF Lesley on a spiritual level, mom level and because that girl just plain gets me!

3) I have seriously been considering signing off of facebook for good, but I am a bit chicken. I'm chicken because I love keeping in touch with people, but I need to simplify. Facebook has especially been nice for those of you that I lost touch with and I don't want to lose touch with you again! This may be my way of simplifying and keeping in touch with those who genuinely want to know what's going on with my family. I'll let you know what I decide when I do. Oh, and I will give you a heads up that sometimes I change my mind...I'm allowed to do that!

4) Most importantly, this is a way that I can journal about my family's happenings, keep track of the fun things we do and the funny things my kids say. These are also things that I love reading in all of your blogs that I follow. So many of you have given me great ideas on things I can do with my family and I have copied you. I hope that every now and then we can inspire you too!