our family. . . .

welcome to Marine Parents!! 

i’m april — the blogger & seamstress behind the name Marine Parents.  i’ve had so many people ask for our story, so i’m happy to share it with you here!  get ready for a picture overload of the cutest, most spoiled little girl & a few words from the parents just trying to clean up in her wake!

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caleb and i were married may 31, 2008 after 18 months of dating and a deployment to iraq.  we built a beautiful little life in marietta, georgia — just outside of atlanta in a picture-perfect house with two very, very large lapdogs.  that fall, caleb came home from work with orders to move to jacksonville, north carolina.  less than a month later, we were pregnant.  ten weeks after seeing those two pink lines on three different tests, we lost our first baby.

we were both devastated, and i’ll admit to being very angry towards God.  i had so much bitterness for so long…. i was a wreck.  i lost my job a few days after the miscarriage & was even angrier.  i had on blinders & no desire to see “the big picture” whatsoever.

caleb was set to deploy a few months after our move to NC, so we drove cross-country in June 2009 so i could stay with my parents who lived in oregon while caleb went back to iraq.  three days before he left to check in with his new unit to deploy, we had a big surprise when i had another positive pregnancy test.  it was then that i started this blog — you can check out my first post here.  we kept our pregnancy a secret for 10 weeks; long enough to have an ultrasound of a perfect little baby growing with a strong & fast heartbeat.

i spent nine months growing by the day, sending care packages to my deployed love and learning as much as possible about cloth diapers.  i was determined to keep caleb involved with the pregnancy & sent him pictures every week and even let him find out the sex of the baby before me — my doctor sealed up my ultrasound pictures at 18 weeks for me to take home while she emailed caleb the gender reveal.  minutes after i walked out of the office, caleb called me and told me that we were having a girl {he had stayed at work several hours longer than his normal shift just to get the email}!!

caleb’s unit came home early from iraq — they were the last HMLA unit to leave iraq {he was also one of the first units to deploy during the invasion, how cool!}.  he was home in december of 2009 and i flew at 7 1/2 months pregnant to see him for two weeks.  it was wonderful to be with him again, and amelia kicked and prodded at the touch of his hand through my belly.  instant best friends – and it hasn’t changed since.

on february 26, 2010 our sweet little amelia coralyn was born.  i was in labor for 26 hours, with an epidural after 16 hours of the worst back labor pain i can ever imagine due to amelia flipping around to face forward.  my body was under so much stress that i wasn’t dilating much at all.  i finally broke down for the epidural and was able to sleep a few hours.  when i woke up, the nurse couldn’t find the other side of my cervix — amelia was coming!! after two and a half hours of strenuous pushing, amelia came into the world face up, screaming to the heavens.

we spent another five days in oregon before taking our tiny newborn on her first cross-country trip to north carolina, the place we would call home for the next year.  when amelia was about six months old, we found out we were pregnant again! knowing that another miscarriage was a slim chance, we told everyone!  we were so excited to continue to grow our family, regardless of the fact that it was not planned in the least.  less than a month later, we suffered another miscarriage and decided not to try again.  while the first miscarriage was excruciating for us and we grieved for months, we understood the “concept” of what was happening more this time around and were able to handle our feelings and bitterness in a less angry fashion.

in march 2011, we moved to sunny san diego, california — it was our biggest dream to move to california as a duty station & we were ecstatic that it finally came true!  caleb spent several weeks in school and changed his MOS to work on the V-22s, also known as the ospreys.  it is the coolest aircraft & this change in jobs was our ticket to california!  we were able to quickly connect with an amazing church where we’ve built great friendships and found a place to serve Christ in a manner pleasing to Him.  we’ve seen so many fun places, freed ourselves from a huge weight of debt {albeit, not completely}, and grown closer together as a family.  though we’ve had such an amazing experience in california so far, we have suffered the loss of another pregnancy as well as family members dear to us.  had we been anywhere else, or less connected in a supportive congregation of believers, i don’t think we would be as optimistic as we are now that “greater things are yet to come.”

not only did we get to come to california, where so much has changed our lives, but we found out before our move to the sunny state that we would be here to build a new unit in order to move to Okinawa, Japan!  our current orders are for late spring 2012.

you can read more about our travels thanks to the marine corps by clicking here.

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caleb and amelia are two sweet peas in a pod — they are adventurous giggle monsters together.  seeing caleb as a father keeps me in constant amazement.  as a tough marine who grew up in an even tougher lifestyle, he has the biggest, most tender heart any wife could ask for from the father of her child.  he kisses boo-boos, swaddles stuffed giraffes and teaches her words like dookey, ucky & touchdown.  every motorcycle on the road is “daddeeee?” and work boots left by the couch are the best play thing to be had.

caleb works unbelievably hard to take care of his family.  he is proud of what he does, and rightfully so.  he has the most giving heart & is always ready to help another in need.  he has grown into such a wonderful man of God right before my eyes.

you can read more posts about caleb, his adventures & my absolute love for him here.

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amelia is our little sweetheart, our princess, our perfect child.  we absolutely could not have asked for a more perfect child.  she has blessed us beyond measure by sleeping through the night since 6 weeks, being a lover of all foods {solid foods were her dream come true at four months old}, and learning anything placed in front of her with uncanny ease.

she’s easy to please, extremely independent & has the greatest sense of joy & amazement.  she makes funny faces for us, tells baby gibberish jokes to herself which ends in the biggest private giggle-fests you’ve ever heard, and sneaks food off the plates of anyone not paying enough attention at any get-together we go to.

amelia is not picky about anything — she’ll play with a straw for hours on ends.  but, if given the chance, she would “read” books all day to her swaddled stuffed animals or push her baby doll around in it’s stroller to the ends of the earth.  she loves dress up, hair bows, and shoes over pajamas.  she is plentiful in giving the best squeezy hugs and smoochy kisses.  at twenty months old, she’s obsessed with the potty as a place to sit, rather than an actual usable place to go… potty.  she is adventurous, happy and has no idea how big of a blessing she is to others.

to see hundreds {thousands!} more frilly toddler girl pictures & read about amelia’s crazy antics, just click here!

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amelia is my little mini me — she is passionate, loud and easily excitable.  we love playing, taking pictures of ourselves & watching Despicable Me on repeat.  i’ll be totally honest — when caleb called me that one day & told me we were having a girl, i cried.  i was broken-hearted because of course we knew we were having a boy.  God had very different plans.

amelia has absolutely changed my life.  i enjoy more, i smile more, i relish the simple things more.  it’s amazing having this tiny little child running around telling me what toy she wants to play with, her drink preferences, or my most favorite — “i lub you mommeeee!”

in march 2011, caleb taught me how to sew — that’s right, my hunky marine’s marine of a man knew how to work a machine and could blind stitch your grandmother under the table.  i couldn’t sew a straight line to save my life but kept on and kept on.  i took one single project and sewed it over & over & over until i perfected it, then moved on to another project.  i opened a shop online & listed a few small items.  i googled more projects, i sewed more projects, i sold more projects.  soon i was running the timing out on the $80 sewing machines we were buying every couple of months from Wal-Mart.  i took a small loan out from our personal bank account & bought a sturdy Janome Magnolia and never looked back.

i started connecting with other handmade artisans, participated in craft fairs & markets, and sold over 600 items in less than 9 months.  i hope to never slow down, to always dream, to always work towards something bigger & greater.  i’d be honored if you checked out my shop full of accessories & lovelies — just click here!

having this blog & shop has been amazing for me.  i’ve made fantastic friends {many whom i’ve never met, many more who i’ve had the privilege to hug in real life} and found a purposeful way to supplement our family income while being able to spend each & every day with our daughter — the sole reason that started this Marine Parents journey.

i hope you stick around & follow along with us for many more adventures!!