Married To My Hero

When I first saw the PopATot I knew it was a product we needed.  With a 3 year old and a 7 month old, I feel like we are constantly on the run.  We love being outdoors, but my 7 month is not at all interested in strollers.  He wants to be held or in his Jumperoo.  And for anyone who has ever used a Jumperoo, you know that they are not portable in the least bit.  I was absolutely delighted when my PopATot arrived in the mail!!  We immediately ran into the house and put it together, despite that it was 5 p.m. and in the middle of dinnertime.  The PopATot was already assembled in the box, and on the first try, it took my 3 year old and I about 2 minutes to set up!  It was so easy!!

Since then we have taken the PopATot to countless parks and playgrounds, grandparents houses, our back patio, play dates, the gym, McDonald's, etc!  Since my husband is deployed I wanted to see if I was able to set it up myself while still holding the baby, and I can!!  Actually, I can set it up easily, and when we're done I am able to fold it up and put it back in its carry case all while holding the baby!





I could go on and on about how much I love our PopATot, but I think I'll let some of our pictures do the rest of the talking.  Ryker was 6 months old in all of these pictures.

Shortly after we first set it up.  I put him in it, and he was at home right away!

Going Overboard:  The Misadventures of a Military Wife by Sarah Smiley has been on my book list for awhile.  It was actually this blog that encouraged me to sit down and read it.  And I will be honest, at first I wasn't so impressed.  Smiley's writing is easy to read and entertaining, and she really knows how to tell a story.  But I wasn't sure about the story I was reading.  This book basically follows the events as Smiley endures a sudden deployment of her husband, who is in the navy..  She has two young sons at home and is left far from family with only her military spouse friends to depend on.  This situation is a reality for many many military wives everyday.  And the fact is, when our men leave, our lives are not perfect.  We have difficulties and need help!  And in this book, Smiley does not hold back.  She tells it as it was regardless of what is politically correct.  So often it feels like we have to put on this front like everything is perfect, even when they are far from perfect.  Perhaps it is time to start talking about what is really going on, and perhaps this book will be the starting point.

And so, I have 2 copies to give away!!

Mandatory Entry: Leave a comment with your favorite military spouse book, fiction or not.

For extra entries, leave additional comments:

1.  If you follow the MTMH blog!  (2 comments if you followed the blog before November 27, 11:59 p.m. EST!)
2.  If you're a fan on our facebook page! (MTMH Facebook Fanpage)
3.  If you are a member of the MTMH forum with at least 1 post!

Remember to leave a comment for every entry.  The winner will be picked by random.org based on the number of your comment. 

The contest will be open until next Saturday, December 5th, at 11:59 p.m. EST.  The winners will be announced Sunday, December 6th on this blog!!  The winners will be e-mailed, so make sure to either post your e-mail or have it in your blogger profile.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED

To be honest, two days ago I had no clue how I was going to start this blog.  I asked family and friends and tried desperately to get a head start.  Then I realized that I don't know my audience yet.  I know that I'm gearing this towards military wives, but that's such a broad category!  And if I don't know my audience, then they definitely don't know me...so here goes.

My name is Erin!  I'm a mother of 2 little boys, and married to a wonderful man who is in the army.  He is currently stationed at Fort Bragg, NC, but he is deployed to Afghanistan.  I enjoy all things crafty; actually I love all things crafty.  JoAnns is possibly my all-time favorite store.  Michaels was actually the first store I went to for Black Friday...

Two years ago I had a vision of a forum for military spouses to come together and relate, support each other and make friends.  I was incredibly blessed with some amazing team members who have helped me to achieve that vision.  With any luck, they will bless us with their presence on this blog from time to time.  Married To My Hero has become a loving community of spouses, fiances, and girlfriends of soldiers in all the branches of the military.  These women have become some of my best friends and are definitely the reason that I've been able to make it through an unaccompanied tour to Korea and this deployment. 

Now to wrap up...what is in store for this blog.  I don't have any great plans yet, honestly.  I'm hoping to let the blog guide itself.  What I do have in mind however involves anything that would be useful to a military spouses or significant others.  How-to's, crafts, reviews, and articles.  I'm hoping to also have something for those of us who are also mothers!!  All in all, I think this is going to be a lot of fun and I am very excited to have everyone along for the ride!!

Welcome to the MTMH blog!!

We will have a few giveaways posted today throughout the day, so check back later for more!!

And check out marriedtomyhero.com to see our amazing community!!

We're getting the blog all ready to launch next Saturday, November 28!!  That will be Married To My Hero's 2 year anniversary and we are very excited to be celebrating this year!  For the launch of the blog we have a few giveaways lined up.  We're very excited to have a few companies who have graciously sponsered giveaways for us, and even more excited that we get to pass the giveaways onto our members!!

So we have 8 days until the big launch.  I thought we'd get the ball rolling a bit now though.  Anyone who follows this blog BEFORE November 28th will get an extra entry for the blog launch giveaways!!  So be sure to sign up before 11:59 p.m. November 27 eastern time!!  To follow the blog, click the "Follow" button located in the left hand column!

Also, I've started using Swag Bucks.  For anyone that doesn't know what swag bucks is, it is essentially a search engine.  On some searches you will win a swagbucks, which can earn you free prizes (such as amazon gift cards, posters, iPhones, etc etc. Check out prize possibilities here) 

If I get 10 referrals to swagbucks, I will add an amazon giftcard to our giveaway list!  There is no time limit on this; so once I get to 10 referrals the giftcard will added to our giveaways!
http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/faythlyn

A few last things.  We will keep our facebook fan page updated with all new blog posts and giveaways, so become a fan to keep on top of things!
Married To My Hero Facebook page!

8 days and counting!

Frequently Asked Questions!

to be updated later

Married to My Hero started as a support forum for military spouses, fiances, girlfriends, and boyfriends in November 2007. It began as a small, free forum
and has grown since then. We have since bought our own forum, moved to paid hosting, and acquired vBulletin software. We have gone from 2 to 4 admins, and added in moderators along the way. Our membership has increased significantly. Throughout the years we have made great friendships.

Now we are branching out to the blogging world!!

If you have any questions, concerns, comments, or criticism, feel free to contact us at marriedtomy.hero@yahoo.com!!

You can also find us at marriedtomyhero.com!