Moran Family Adventures: musings of a boy mom

We've done things a little better this time around in the naming department. For Jellybean, his name came around literally a few weeks before he was born. Tater Tot's name has been decided 2 months before the due date, so that's pretty good for us!  My only real rules for narrowing down names were, they had to be "normal" find on a magnet when we're traveling type names. Mostly because I never found my name ANYWHERE. I actually had a role in naming my youngest sister, and unlike me and my middle sister, she has a find your name on a magnet type of name. Michelle. Yes, I chose the name after a Full House character, what can I say, I was 8. I also didn't want anything too trendy or unisex. I wanted strong masculine names for my boys, but not anything that was on a Top 10 chart. Simple right?  Charles Richard Moran  For Jellybean, we were able to narrow down the list to about 5 after all the vetoes.  1. Charles 2. Max 3. Vincent 4. William  5. I c...

I  have so many funny pictures of Jellybean being the silly little boy he is meant to be. I love his sweet, affectionate, determined, GOOFY personality. He really is turning into his dad's mini me. 

Tater Tot Update  This kiddo is growing so fast! I'm officially just as heavy as I was at 36 weeks with Jellybean. *Gasp* *Cry* *Freak Out!* I was talking to my Commander's wife and she said she gained TWICE as much with her second. My Flight Chief said his ex-wife looked like a house with their second. I'm trying to keep the panic and freaking out at bay....I've taken up spin classes...I'm hopefully going to keep this third trimester wait skyrocketing thing at bay because if I remember correctly, that's when people really pack on the pounds!  You'd think that running after one year old and working long hours would be enough. Fortunately, I'm extremely fashion motivated and there are way too many pairs of designer jeans and adorable dresses and shoes in my closet that are begging me to put them on again. For anyone out there on Pinterest with me, sorry but I'm going to be spamming you all with tons of fall outfits to motivate myself to get bac...

Corolla, Duck, Kitty Hawk  I've been aching to go to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Whenever I find free time in our schedules though, it's usually so last minute that the hotel prices are ridiculous and I feel like I don't have enough time to plan a family trip up and down the North Carolina coastline. But fortunately for us, North Carolina really isn't that far away, and who says I have to see it all in one go? One early Friday morning, I packed up my family (early so that I could maximize on Jellybean sleeping time) and off we went to make the 2 hour drive to the northern beaches of the Outer Banks.  First stop? DUCK DONUTS. Apparently it's the thing to do and who am I to turn down a good donut recommendation? I'm so glad I wasn't disappointed. I splurged on half a dozen and even got a maple bacon donut (yuck btw). Even their plain donut was pretty good!  We then planned our tour of the wild horses on Corolla. These colonial Spanish m...

A Trip to Pocahontas-Land  I love U.S. history, specifically the beginnings of this country. Matt on the other hand is more fond of World War II history, specifically the battlefields in Europe. So if we ever get stationed in Europe, I can imagine he will drag me around to those battlefields, but while we're living here in Virginia, I'm going to be dragging him around to what interests me.....the origins of this country. While Matt drags his feet on coming on these adventures, I like to remind him that we wear the uniform for a living. I only think it's fitting to see the beginnings of a country we deem important enough to pledge a life of allegiance to. We haven't done much historical exploring close to home, we've checked out D.C. and Gettysburg, and Philly, but it's time to start checking out what's nearby. Our first stop? Pocahontas-land AKA Jamestown. Queue fun Disney music now.... because that's what was running in my head while we e...