Chaos

I have no idea how you people with more than one kid do it. Mary's cutting more teeth, so she's been super cranky all day. Doug's car is in the shop so he has my car and Mary and I were stuck at home. Can you say cabin fever? The only thing that kept her quiet and relatively happy was exploring the Tupperware cabinet. Thank goodness it has child locks...ha, ha. For the sake of my sanity, I let her have at it. When my back was turned, my little monkey decided it was time to climb on the table. Yikes! Of course I had to take a picture first before scolding her and pulling her off. Doug rolled his eyes and said I was sending mixed messages to her. Hello, he's the one that does raspberries on her belly and then wonders why she spits all the time. She's imitating the sound.

One of Mary's new tricks is saying "ah" after taking a drink. It's so cute. She even does it if someone else takes a drink or she's pretending. Here's a video of her with an empty water bottle she found in the cabinet.

$5!

Well, most people have heard me moan and complain about the vegetable situation here. After 3 months, I finally gave in and bought asparagus. Canned (yuck) is just not the same as fresh and they have no frozen variety available. The locals wrap the asparagus so prettily. It's usually in bunches of 6 stalks, but I was able to find 2 packs of 7! What a deal. I splurged for 2 packs, since we love asparagus so much. $2.49 each. We savored every bite.

She know's what she wants

Last night, dinner was a bit late since Doug was late from work. I was trying to keep Mary's mind off food so we could all eat dinner together. I walked out of the kitchen and she was climbing into her high chair! Without holding onto any other furniture, she climbed up the front of it and sat down. She was so proud of her accomplishment. I had to take a deep breath to calm my racing heart. Needless to say, she was eating dinner when Doug came home.

Play group

Mary and I have joined a neighborhood play group. What a great opportunity for her to have other kids her age to play with and for me to get out of the house. The lady who hosts the group has twin 16 month old boys so they have a plethora of toys. They recently acquired a kiddie RV. This thing is HUGE and so much fun! It comes equipped with a kitchenette with oven doors that actually open, a seating area, the 2 front seats and even a sunroof! How cool. The kids had a great time.

Time for a snack.

Any dirty dishes?

Get in Jessica, we're about to go. Now, I just need to learn to drive.

Welcome home!

Doug's home!!!! Hooray! He was able to get an earlier flight so his plane was lading around noon. Mary and I high tailed it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. It was my first time parking and walking to meet someone, so I wanted to make sure I had time to get lost and not be panicked. We ended up getting there 45 min. early. Mary had a good time running around and looking at the fish in the big aquarium.

Mary has started getting "stranger anxiety". She'll venture out on her own for a bit, then rush back to me and grab my leg. I was slightly worried she might not remember Doug, but she screamed, jumped up and down and went to him immediately. How wonderful. Welcome home, Daddy.

Where's Daddy?

Well, Doug was supposed to arrive tonight, but his plane was delayed in Chicago for 5 hours and he consequently missed his connecting flight in Tokyo. He won't get here until tomorrow (Monday) afternoon. Poor man, I know he's going to be exhausted. It's bad enough when it takes 2 days to get here. It's even worse when that's stretched to three.

Since we didn't go to the airport, Mary and I met Mel and Kaye for dinner. We tried a new place down by the seawall. It's was teeny tiny, but I had an excellent spaghetti with salmon and spinach in a cream sauce. Mary munched on olives, cheese, carrots, cucumber, noodles, and tons of Kaye's berry smoothie. Thanks for sharing!

We went for a walk along the seawall to stretch our legs after dinner. Mary was having fun pointing at the clouds, the water, wall, people, practically everything.


Mary even put her feet (and her bottom) in the water. It felt wonderful. So warm! I almost wished we had our bathing suits.


Another beautiful sunset. It was getting crowded on the wall. I guess a lot of people like to come here for the view. Sorry you didn't get to enjoy this with us Daddy! See you soon.

SUN!!!

It's bubble time, Mom.

Hard to tell, but I'm blowing the bubbles in her face.

Yea! The sun is back! What a glorious day. Isn't it amazing how days and days of rain will just sap your energy and your mood? Mary and I had a good time playing outdoors with the bubbles. She even helped me take out the recyclables.

You can't spell idiot without an I

Mary and I went out today to go to the store. I buckled her in and then went to start the car. Click. Oh no. Tried it again. Click. Nothing. Dead. Sigh. This happened when Doug was in Iraq, too. Why do things like this happen when I'm all alone? I went to try his car, also dead. He had had trouble with his battery before leaving so that wasn't a complete surprise, but darn, now I have 2 dead cars. I called the local tow company on base. Figured they could give me a jump and I'd go get a new battery or if it was something else, they could tow me to the repair shop. The guy showed up, I popped the hood. Told him that nothing happened when I turned the key. I handed him the key. He opened the door, put the car into park and it started right up. I had left it in drive. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. How embarrassing. What an idiot. The nice man wouldn't take any money. He probably got a good laugh out of it once he got back into his truck. I know someday I will.

Meany

Why is it that one day your child will eat something and the next day won't touch it? Last night, Mel came over and I made roasted mixed veggies, pork schnitzel and red cabbage. (first time cooking since Doug has been gone) Anyway, wasn't so big on the veggies, but Mary loved the pork and actually chewed on a lemon slice. At first I thought it was crazy, but remembered I used to love lemons as a kid. Tonight we had leftovers. I gave her some pork (yum), a combo of mashed potatoes and veggies from Gerber that she loved yesterday (not a fan of it today) and even offered a lemon slice. She sucked on the lemon, gave me a look like I had betrayed her, threw it across the living room and then proceeded to wipe at the tongue with her hand. I felt so bad. I even offered water to help dilute, but she wouldn't accept anything else from me. She probably thought I was a horrible meany.

downgrade

For all those that are curious, the typhoon has been downgraded to a tropical storm. Yea! Now, it's not supposed to reach us until Thursday. This got me to thinking...if a storm gets weaker, it's downgraded. If it gets stronger, it's upgraded. If it stays the same, is it graded? You never hear that in the news.

Mary's fighting me with diaper changes now. I hear it's because there's so much to explore and she doesn't want to sit still. Whatever the cause, it's driving me crazy. Here's a recent photo of the runaway baby. She's completely naked. She ran from me and climbed into her wagon. I think she was hoping it would take her somewhere fun. Unfortunately, it just took her back to the changing mat for a fresh diaper. She's now playing with the belt trying to figure out how to connect it. What a smart cookie. Notice the nice string of drool on her chest? Between the snot and the drool on her face, her hair keeps sticking to her cheeks. It was super crunchy by bath time. I'll be glad when the teeth are done.

Teething stinks

Just when we get in a nice groove, Mary's sleeping 11 1/2 -12 hours a night and 2 naps, more teeth decided to erupt and cranky baby returns. Poor thing. She was drooling all over the place today. It was like her mouth was a faucet and she forgot to turn it off. There was a point that her white t-shirt looked almost transparent. When she teethes, she also gets a runny nose. It too, was dripping all over the place. I had to grab one of Doug's handkerchiefs since she was using up all the kleenex. She also can't shred a handkerchief if she gets her hands on it. So we were in the car today and I hear her blowing her nose. I'm so happy I taught her that, of course she doesn't do it when a tissue is pressed up against it. I look back and she's blowing her nose into her hand. She looked so proud when she pulled her hand away and there was a huge stringer. Yuck, but kinda funny.

Pure joy

Oh, how can you look at this face and not smile? I am amazed how much my life has changed. All for the better. This is one of my new favorite pics.

For those of you that would like an update on the typhoon. So far, so good. It's just been windy with sporadic rain/thunderstorms. I'm hoping all this will pass quickly. My laundry room is over crowded with the lawn mower, BBQ grill and everything else from the backyard. Poor Dumas has to hop the baby gate so she can get to the litter box and her food. I don't want Mary getting in there at all.

rain, anyone?

Oh, it's looming closer. Typhoon Sinlaku has slowed down and we were originally supposed to be hit Friday or Saturday, but now it looks like it'll be Monday. It might even pass us, but we'll have to wait and see. Right now, we have wind and rain and muggy conditions. Mary and I were getting a bit of cabin fever and went for a walk tonight after dinner. It actually felt pretty good. She found a small puddle to play in. She loves putting her hands in it and splashing. Next thing I know she's face down. A moment of panic for me, but she looked up grinning. She had dirt all over her face and soaking wet bangs. I don't know if she was drinking, kissing or smelling the water. Good grief, she's going to turn my hair gray. Oh wait! It's already doing that.

Here's a video from Thursday

The comraderie of the military

I got a phone call from my friend Mel this morning informing me that a typhoon is heading our way. What?!!! You would think there would be big announcements on the t.v. or something, but I haven't seen anything. All those times I thought that maybe I should get a typhoon kit together at the house comes back to bite me. Now I have to fight the crowds and panicked people at the commissary. And wouldn't you know that our flashlight fell off the refrigerator last week and broke. So off to the store we go. The water section in the store is completely empty, but then I find that they have set up huge pallets of H2O in the aisle by the milk. Guess I should pick up an extra jug for Mary. Whew, we're set. Plenty of water and non perishables. You can live on peanut butter and ritz crackers, right? The typhoon is not supposed to hit until Friday or Saturday, but the wind was picking up today and we had a couple of heavy downpours. I looked at our awning flapping in the wind and figured that we'll have to buy a new cover sooner than we had planned, since I certainly can't reach it to pull it down. Low and behold, our neighbor came over this afternoon and volunteered to go to self-help (for you non-military, it's sort of a loan office) to get a ladder. She and her husband later came over and helped me bring in anything that could get blown away and pulled down the awning. You can't tell by the pictures, but it was raining at the time and we all got drenched. Good thing it was warm. Mary had a good ole time. What wonderful neighbors. I started thinking, if we were civilians, would my neighbors volunteer to help like mine just did? Would they even know that my husband was gone and I was alone with my daughter? Gosh, we went almost 3 years without really talking to our neighbors in Hawaii. Sad, but true. I am so thankful to have such good friends close by. Thank you Beth and Orlando.

Wet baby Oh what did you sit in?

P for phonics

For all you SLPs in the family, this video is for you. It was taken a few weeks ago. Thanks Aunt Laura, Uncle Dave and the gang for the alphabet toy. We're having a great time with it.

On a different note...yesterday I mowed the lawn! Wow, my first time ever. I was so excited when I pulled the string thing and it started right up. Ok, I had to pull it twice, but that doesn't sound as dramatic. Anyway, I put Mary down for her morning nap, hoped and prayed she wouldn't wake up and went outside to cut down the grass. It wasn't too bad, but I hear that the housing department on base will issue citations for out of control lawns and I was worried. Strange how it was almost relaxing. I kinda got into a groove and suddenly I felt like all the cares and worries of the world melted away. Don't tell Doug, he might want to make it one of my permanent chores. I have to say I was mighty proud when I was done. What a sense of accomplishment.

She's asking for it

Dumas is just asking for trouble when Mary is happily playing with the empty basket and Dumas decides to jump in. I think she wants the attention. I also think she has a bad memory. She seems to forget that Mary likes to hit and pull handfuls of fur. Poor kitty.

Dumas: "Hey! Is she trying to take my temperature?"

Mary: "bad kitty- smack, smack"


Mommy: "kiss and make up"

Yes, I had to get it on video.

Library fun

One of our favorite places to visit is the library. I put her down and have Mary walk through the main doors by herself. She always beelines straight for the children's room. They have a couple of short tables with puzzles and that's her favorite place. Of course, if there are other children in the room, then it's even better.

Pretty puzzle.

Look Ma, no hands!

Brandi, thanks for the info about how to move the pictures.

Exercise time

Mary and I were highly motivated to get up early for a 5k fun run/walk for prostate health. Does it matter if we don't have a prostate? Our friend Mel met us there and kept us company. It seems wrong that I had to wake up the baby. She's always waking us up and sleep is so precious. You can see in the picture that she has her breakfast (cheerios) to take on the race. Anyway, it was a good time. A bit warm, but I can tell it's starting to get cooler here. Apparently the base has a 5k every month. This might become a routine.

I would have posted this with the other one but I'm still trying to figure out how to work it. If anyone can tell me how to post pictures where I want them, please let me know. Right now, all my pictures download at the top of the blog. It seemed strange having pictures of the race when I'm blogging about Mary's poo.

That's no Baby Ruth!

For any Caddyshack fans, that title should bring back a memory. For anyone else that needs a little refreshing...Aagh!!! Mary pooped in the bathtub! I should have had a suspicion when I realized she had not gone #2 all day (and she's extremely regular) or maybe the fact that she only wanted to squat in the tub and not sit down. Hmmm. She got upset with me when precious bath time was interrupted with me hollering (only because she wanted to grab at the floaties-yuck) and whisking her out of the tub. This is when Daddy help would have been much appreciated. So, I had a naked crying baby standing in the bathroom while I tried to clean out the tub as best I could. I'm sure it was quite a picture. Don't worry, I didn't take a picture.

It's a zoo

An elephant towel, monkey pajamas and a zoo of a house. I think it's so funny how Mary likes to pick up things and drop them all over the house then wonders why she trips on them. I keep telling her to look where she's going. Of course, the smart thing would probably be to tell her to put her toys away. All in due time. I found these super cute monkey pajamas on base and couldn't resist.

Because there's not enough chaos

Apparently, I feel that being by myself with my 1 year old for the first time isn't enough of a challenge, so I agree to babysit for a friend. Maybe deep down I have a problem saying "no". Maybe I thought a 2 1/2 year old and a 1 yr old would have fun playing together and it would be a piece of cake. Maybe I'm just plain nuts. I've learned my lesson. A 2 1/2 yr old only child doesn't like to share and even though the toy belongs to Mary, it suddenly becomes "his". A 14 month old curious only child just wants someone to play with her (besides Mommy, of course). Thank goodness it has cooled off and we were able to go outside and play with the neighbor kids for a while. Thank goodness Mary still held to her bedtime and went to sleep without a fuss at 7:30pm. Thank goodness the parents of the 2 1/2 yr old don't know about this blog site. Hee hee. Naw, it was ok. Just busier than I had imagined, but a fun night.

The bangs needed another trimming. They grow so fast. Last time, the lady did a great job. Of course I can't remember who cut her hair. All the Japanese ladies look alike. Oh, probably not the most PC thing to say. I'm not planning on running for any future government job. Anyway, a different lady cut Mary's bangs this time and now they're all crazy crooked. I told her "cut at the eyebrow". As you can tell from the pic, it's much higher and not at all straight. She said there must be a hidden cowlick. How come everyone else has been able to work around it? Well, her hair grows fast and it only costs $3. Maybe we'll get lucky next time.

picture: She found a paper bag and decided to walk around the living room picking up toys off the floor and dropping them in. Great! Unfortunately, it was just as much fun to pull them back out and drop them in new fun locations...like the bathroom. Luckily, the toilet lid was down.

Day 3 without Daddy and we're hanging in there. How come it feels like he's been gone longer?

When Daddy's away...

the girls play. It's cookie time! Mary and I enjoyed an afternoon snack of chocolate chip cookies. Maybe not the best idea since she barely touched her chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner (but she did eat all her carrots). Perhaps we'll save the cookies for after dinner tonight.

We sent Doug on a business trip yesterday. It was our first time driving to the airport. Thank goodness it's a straight shot from here and the sign for the airport is in English. It was also Mary's first long trip in the new car seat. The positive is that she likes looking out the window, the negative is that she doesn't want to sleep. There's just too much to see. I thought for sure she would fall asleep since it was nap time. She finally drifted off on the way home for about 5 minutes, but woke up when I stopped at a traffic light. Arrrgh! Needless to say, there were plenty of cranky moments throughout the day (and not just by Mary) due to lack of sleep, but we survived our first day without Daddy. We miss you!