Mary Update Only

I just wanted to give an update on me and my life/thoughts. I feel this is important because I know what it's like to struggle with certain thoughts & feelings that I feel a lot of girls and women struggle with.

I've never been comfortable with my body or weight..even at my thinnest (around 120-125) I felt awkward and chubby. I think it's just something I grew up thinking and it has stuck with me. And of course there's always some blame that can be put on the media. However, after I had my daughter in 

September 2011 my weight was at its highest. Thankfully 30 of my 41 lb. baby weight gain just fell off within 3 weeks of having her, but that last 11 lbs. stuck with me for over a year. It all resided in my midsection and thighs too, so my jean size was considerably higher and I felt considerably rounder. I would make half-hearted attempts to lose the weight (get salads when dining out, go on walks, etc.) but nothing I did was a serious attempt or life change until the last few months.

Renewing my faith in God has helped me renew my faith in myself. I believe I can achieve ANYTHING. It may sound cheesy or lame but it's an honest statement. I've lost almost 9 lbs and shrunk one jean size (as of Sunday March 3rd). I enjoy working out and eating healthy. Honestly the beginning was difficult. I noticed mental and emotional changes before any significant physical changes. I had to change my mindset. It's not about "being skinny", it's about being healthy and setting the best example I can for my child. I don't go to the gym to be skinny anymore. I go because it makes me happy; it keeps me energized. Losing weight on top of those things is a bonus. I do have weight loss goals (20lbs total) BUT I'm not going to stress out over not being a certain figure/size. It's a hard place to come to. It was honestly a  HUGE challenge to stop focusing on my body and start focusing on my health but if you stop focusing on weight loss or the physical image of yourself in your head and start focusing on improving your life that weight loss WILL come and you won't be stressing about it.

I'm honestly one of those people who was always trying to lose 5lbs, 10 lbs or shrink a jean size so if I can lose weight and be healthier I truly believe anyone can. This isn't a bragging blog, but I hope it can encourage some of you who are unhappy with yourself to take that step and make changes. If I can do it so can you.

:)

2013 starts

Well here I am again! I've come to accept the fact that I suck at keeping up with this blog on a weekly or even monthly basis. Oops! :)

Alex has been gone since September. It's been a long deployment already..and not an easy one either but we're still hanging in there and anxiously awaiting the reuniting of our family. Alex and his unit are doing great work over there and I know they are a powerful presence. We're so proud. Please continue to send your thoughts, prayers and encouraging words to Alex and his team. It's needed and appreciated!

Spencer will be 18 months in a few weeks. I cannot believe our little baby is almost a year and a half. Her BIG personality is becoming more and more apparent with each passing day. She loves the word "no". In fact, she likes to answer all of Dora and Mickey's questions with no and she doesn't look entirely convinced when they disagree with her! HA! She has mastered the use of a fork and gets the idea of using a spoon for the most part but not all of the spoonable foods make the long trek from the bowl to her mouth..we lose a lot lol. She's learning though and LOVES using all utensils! She is constantly talking. Every day she likes to hug her puppies and tell me their names. She talks about her Mimi- pointing her out in family photos (as if the rest of us aren't in them too). She has been able to Skype with Alex on several occasions and she knows that's "Dada" even though he now has a full blown Amish beard. She loves showing him all her toys and makes sure to hug all her favorites with a big "awwww" while he's watching. I can't wait to have those two back together.

She is very busy. If she's conscious, she's moving, running and exploring. She is a big hugger and loves to point. Her YMCA "teacher" said she was really great at communicating. (duh, have I mentioned she's a superior human?) ;). She (and I) have been warming up to some childcare. She goes to the Y childcare and will now be going to Sunday school at church. Which brings me to another exciting bit of news...Spencer and I found a church that I'm pretty sure her daddy will enjoy! It reminds me a lot of the church I attended back in Kansas, Life Church. I already feel really connected and welcomed there and cannot wait to get more involved. It's really a beautiful thing finding a church that I feel so drawn to so quickly. I look forward to this new part of our life. I've honestly fallen off track with regard to my spiritual side so this is a huge deal to me.

Anita will be visiting us this upcoming month. She'll be babysitting Spencer (and me) while I get my wisdom teeth taken out. We can't wait to have her!

Life is very busy for the Burdge's. We're ready to have Alex back with us and to spend some quality family time together. Again, I cannot say when he's coming home or much of anything about the deployment so please respect that. But we do appreciate your concern and know you're just worried! He's doing well and is happy to be doing something good over there! I'll leave you with some pictures from the last months. :)

Love.

November

November snuck up on us!

Alex is doing well and enjoying his work. He is growing an insane beard..he may have a righteous enough beard to buy a Harley soon. HA!

Spencer is thriving! She's almost too tall to wear 18month clothing. I feel like she's learning something new every day. She can now say "bye-bye", "dada", "mama", "brown bear", "Beau Beau" and "ginkee" (that's how she says binky). Of course all of these things sound a bit different in baby language but she's learning fast! She waves hello and goodbye as well.

She can walk & run! She's always on the go. She loves to play with our curtains, run up and down the hall and throw things over the baby gate. She has such a distinct little personality. She's even learning to throw small fits (yay) haha. Spencer can identify her belly and sometimes her head.

She flirts with everyone we see and waits to wave until they can't see her anymore. She's a little stinker :). 

I'm so proud to say she was broken of the baby bottle in just a day! We had no problems moving exclusively to sippy cups! I'm so proud of our munchkin. 

We're both doing well emotionally with everything. (Or as well as you can). We've been able to skype and/or talk to Alex fairly regularly and that helps tremendously. We miss him so very much and look forward to our skype dates.

We had a nice, fairly quite Halloween. Spencer went as a witch. She had one sucker and loved it. I'm pretty sure she made it to the center of the tootsie pop in record time. 

Spence and I will be making a road trip soon with the help of Anita. We'll be in Kansas for the month of December. 

Lots of love.

Mary & Spencer.

Long overdue

So once again I've majorly failed at keeping this blog up to date...but get ready because a TON has happened since my last post in May!


We've been in our home for a while now and we love it. It's great. We're the first owners which is great because nothing is pet or smoke damaged and the whole house is ready for us to tweak to our liking :). This upcoming weekend we're painting Spencer's play room and finally getting it in order. Her toys are beginning to take over our living room so it's time to move them upstairs!!


We've had several trips home. Spencer and I made it home once in June and were able to spend my mother's birthday with her. All three of us had the chance to come home in late August to have an early birthday party for little miss. She's one now. It's hard to believe a year has passed! Some of her newest tricks are drinking out of a straw, looking for Beau Beau when I say his name, taking steps and playing peek-a-boo. Her last appointment was her 1 year check up and she was 31 inches long (91%) and 24.15 lbs (86%). The doctor was surprised at her height! She's very happy and very healthy! Some of her favorite foods are blueberries, strawberries and any pasta!

Spencer's Mimi (Alex's mom) was able to come out and spend some time with us this month. She was able to help us send Alex off. It was so great to have her here and Spencer really misses her Mimi time!


Alex is gone now and that's really all I can say about this deployment. Please don't be offended if you ask questions I can't answer because for his safety, his team's safety and our safety we're not really supposed to reveal too much. But know he's safe and we have already been able to speak to him several times. Your thoughts and prayers will be the greatest support throughout this. He is excited to be putting his skills and knowledge to work as it's been a long road to finally get here!

I turned 26 this month as well..and I sure as heck don't feel that old. Sometimes it's mind blowing to think I've been married 4 years, we have bought a home and have a one year old! Life is flying by! Alex's birthday is coming up in October so don't forget to send him well wishes :).


Spence and I will be home again around Christmas time, so hopefully we can see many of you! :)

Here are some photos from the past few months :)

Love from Wa. <3

Busy bees

Hello again =)

Well, we've been insanely busy this month of May! We've moved into and furnished our new home. We love this little city of Moxee we're living in. It's a quiet little town not too far from busy Yakima! Alex and I have both met some really great people since moving here. The EOD unit is small but very tight knit which we love. All of the ladies have been incredibly welcoming and helpful.

Alex has spent the last few weeks away in Virginia for some pre-deployment training. He hasn't even seen our new furniture yet because he was gone when it was delivered! The EOD guys are really busy getting ready for their upcoming deployment which will happen later in the year. He's still really enjoying the unit and the work he's doing! It looks like this MOS change was a really good idea..for all of us.

Spencer and I are both really enjoying the warm weather we've finally gotten out here. She has a little pool (it's a zebra, of course) that she loves to splash in and she's had several friends over already this month to play in it! :) Our little girl is 8 months old now and growing like a weed (as usual). She had an appointment yesterday and weighed in at 22.9 lbs and was 29 3/4 inches long. She's such a big girl! :) She's pretty close to being a forward crawler and she's constantly trying to pull up! Today she was working on her "mmm" sounds so I think "mama" isn't too far off! =) She has also sprouted two teeth in the last month!

She's had some minor health issues lately though. She's having some acid reflux issues..nothing we can't manage but the poor girl is constantly puking after meals & bottles. We're working on some natural and hands on remedies before we ask for medicinal help. Other than that little issue she is the same happy, healthy baby she's always been! She's made quite a few little friends out here! We're planning a zoo trip with our new friends Ashley & Jackson next week!

Little miss got her ears pierced 5 days ago and she's doing really well with them. (AKA she barely notices) although the other day her hand did wander up to one of her ears and she seemed very puzzled as to the new growth on her ear. HA!

Spencer and I will be home next month for 9 days for a short visit. I hope we can see some of you, but if not please don't be offended..it's going to be a mostly family based trip as no one has really seen Spencer since Christmas! But we'll try to see as many people as we can! =).

Send prayers and positive thoughts our way please as Alex will be leaving again for a month long training course shortly after he comes home this weekend. We haven't seen much of one another lately and it's been tough.

Love!

One day at a time

Well we've been here in Washington state for a few months now. We are still really enjoying it and we have some exciting things coming up!

We are in the process of closing on a house, which we're very ready for! We should be able to move in by the end of the month!

Spencer is still growing so fast we can't believe it! She has had to upgrade her favorite chair to one that supports more weight as she is one plump girl! haha :). She's finally getting a better sleep schedule and she's eating a ton of baby food! She can sit unassisted and she LOVES the water! She splashes up a storm during tubby time...we really can't wait to get her a little pool this summer! She's almost 7 months old already and it's time to upgrade her carseat as well. Her feet dangle over the edge!! She's growing like a weed! She's also learned to wiggle around in her crib at night so when I go to get her in the morning she's never quite where I left her the night before haha.

Spencer's Mimi (Alex's mom) is coming to visit tomorrow and will be with us for Easter. We're so glad she'll be here to celebrate Spence's first Easter with us! We plan on some shopping in Seattle, hiking in the canyon and plenty of strolls outside in the spring weather. :)

My good friend, Lauren and her baby, Paxton will be visiting in May and we couldn't be more excited. Paxton was Spencer's first playdate! :)

Alex loves his EOD job. The unit had a bbq yesterday so I was able to meet a lot more wives/gfs! We're finally getting comfortable and fully settled here. Alex had a small re-enlistment ceremony yesterday as well, 4 more years! We're looking forward to the next few years!! :)

Life on the west coast

We're finally here in Washington (and finally getting settled!). We've most of our things unpacked and are enjoying living here very much. It's gorgeous! We live in Ellensburg, Washington which is nestled right in the cascades. Alex, Spencer and I took our first mountain hike this morning. (OUCH!) =). It was a lot of fun and the view was breathtaking.

Speaking of Spencer, she is growing like crazy. She will be 6 months old a week from Monday and I'm finding that really hard to believe. I skimmed through her newborn pictures tonight and had myself tearing up. She's such a joy. She's always laughing and is happy 99% of the time. We have definitely been blessed with an amazing little gift. She's learned to roll over in the last month and we can't get her to stay on her back. Lay her down and PLOP! She's rolled onto her belly..and she's discovered how to sleep that way as well. It's her new favorite sleeping position! She's always talking (just like her mother), "happy screaming", & laughing. She's already in 6 month clothes and is too long for some of those! I just can't believe how much she's grown!

The weather here is very similar to Kansas but probably overcast more often. We've had a handful of pretty mild days and stay in the 40s most of the time this time of year. We are VERY close to the mountains. I can step out onto the street in front of our house and see them. It's beautiful. So far, I can say it's my favorite location we've lived. We can't wait for it to warm up some and do more exploring!

Alex is enjoying his new job as an EOD tech and we're both getting to know the small military group out here. He seems to stay pretty busy! We're both relieved to just be finished with school and to have a little bit of time to get comfy somewhere ha! =) -but that's the military life...you just never know when you're going to get sent somewhere or how long you'll REALLY be there. lol.

So as you can see things are wonderful right now and we are very happy!!