learning lesson

Doug and I are patting ourselves on our back for this learning lesson...

Doug walked into the office this evening and saw Mary sitting on the guest bed. He also saw that she had written all over the walls (and door and dresser drawers) with the blue crayon. He looked at her and she said, "no, no, no". I'm hoping she meant that to mean she knew she did wrong and was scolding herself. Doug put her in Time Out while I went to get the Magic Eraser. What a fantastic invention! We made Mary help us wipe off the marks. I'm hoping this helped teach her that this was wrong vs scolding her and cleaning it up ourselves. We'll see if the lesson sinks into that cute little brain.

Child labor

Well, she's now 2, so that means she can officially be put to work. Mary "helped" me shuck the corn tonight. She kept wanting to bite it and sniff it. Doug put them on the grill with our brats and hot dogs. Finished the meal with homemade blueberry ice cream. Yum.

ps, she's naked because she played in her water table and was drenched. Then, she wanted her wet clothes off. She spent the majority of the evening only in her diaper.

Passed!

We have the swim certificate in hand. I guess that means that Mary passed swim lessons even though she spent the majority of the class screaming her head off and telling me "all done". I was going to forgo any future classes this summer, but Doug thinks that maybe she'll benefit from the one in August since she'll be a couple of months older. We can already tell a difference when she's in the tub. I didn't hear a peep out of her the other night when Doug was washing her hair. Yes, she's still using the cute pink statue of liberty hat, but at least she's not screaming. So maybe these past 2 weeks of swim classes have helped her...or maybe she's just growing up.

I love how the only thing not checked is: blowing bubbles with mouth and nose submerged (which of course, she wouldn't do), but yet she apparently can recite all the water safety topics (bottom right hand column). Ha! What a talented 2 year old!

Happy Birthday Mary!

My baby is 2. I don't know if I'm crying because she's growing up so darn fast or if it's my hormones gone wild. Either way, our lives have been wonderfully enriched since Mary came along. We had a very nice birthday party for her during playgroup today with a Luau theme. Doug bought her the cutest grass skirt and coconut shell top hula outfit last time he was in Hawaii and I thought that would be perfect. Kalua pork and cabbage, rice, fruit and a turtle cupcake cake rounded out the theme...not to mention the millions of leis to choose from.

Mary didn't like the hula outfit. Bummer. It was too cute for words.

Trying on as many leis as possible before all the guests arrived.

My crazy attempt at making a turtle cake.

The outfit she ended up wearing. We bought this in Hawaii before we moved...before she was even born. I'm glad we thought ahead. It's so pretty on her.

Kinda blurry, but you can see the excitement on her face after blowing out the candle.

Mary licked off all the green icing from her cupcake before taking one bite of the cake and declaring herself done.

Happy birthday sweetheart! We love you!

When you're in the military you move a lot. You get used to having multiple items in your house because either 1) you forgot you had it, so you bought another, 2) you knew you had it, but couldn't find it, so you bought another or 3) you need it desperately at the moment even though you know another one is in your household goods shipment that will arrive in a week. Case in point, my razor. I used to have so many disposable razors. I bought a multi pack in Kansas when we moved there and suddenly I seemed to have razor overload once our shipment from Hawaii arrived. I had packs everywhere. Fast forward to this weekend...I looked at my razor in the shower and realized it's the same one I've been using for a whole year!!!! Ok, it will officially be a year this coming Wednesday. I figured, it's about time I throw it away and get another. That's why it's called a disposable after all. Can I find another one? Nope. I looked everywhere...the medicine cabinet, under the bathroom counter, in drawers, in linen closets, in that strange basket tucked away in my closet that holds a little bit of everything. No razors. Where did they go? Probably packed away in storage in Kansas and I won't see them again for 2 more years. So I broke down and bought myself a new 4 pack. Doug said that should last me until we move again. I have to admit, I'm kinda nervous about breaking in the new one. The old one was like a trusted friend. It never cut me (heck, it was so dull I'm surprised it even cut), we'd been through a lot together (a whole year's worth) and it was familiar. Now, I'm scared I'm going to nick myself like crazy. I'll be completely honest, it's been 2 days and I still haven't gotten up the nerve to use it yet. Maybe tomorrow...

oh boy

I know when she's quite, mischief abounds. This is the scene I found... Millie the milk cow getting a diaper change in the middle of the living room. The tube of vaseline mysteriously lighter and gooey-ier. I picked up the cow and it had a thick coating of the vaseline right between it's back legs. I looked at Mary and with the most serious expression on her face she said, "oh boy". Too cute.

rain, rain go away...and take the snails

Every time I think there's a break in the clouds and the rain is over, whoosh, more rain. Yuck. Doug even tried mowing the grass yesterday evening, since he's so embarrassed by the yard. I keep trying to show him that all the neighbor's yards look equally bad, if not worse, but he only has eyes for ours. Of course, once he stepped outside and saw that the lake we have in the back hasn't quite soaked in, he gave up that idea. All this rain has really brought out the gigantic snails. Maybe they were always around, but now they're moving to higher ground to keep from drowning. Dumas got her first look at one on the office window. It kept her busy for quite a while. I've never seen the underbelly of one, so it was half facinating half ewwwww. Unfortunately, I missed the Kodak moment when both Mary and Dumas were staring at it. Darn!

Like mother, like daughter

I can't imagine a time when we will ever have matching bathing suits again, so I took full advantage today and had a friend take a picture. Believe me, I didn't buy these on purpose, but it was just meant to be. As we were driving to the pool, I saw a bit of blue sky trying to peek through. Yea!!! We had a rain free session and just a hint of sun. The water was still a shock to the system when jumping in, but it was much more tolerable. I was even brave enough to put my face in the water to demonstrate blowing bubbles to Mary. The past few days, I let the teacher and other mommies show her. I know, I'm a wimp. Mary stuck her tongue out and tasted the water a couple of times. She did attempt to blow bubbles, but inhaled instead and got a mouth full of water. Not a happy swimmer after that attempt. However, I feel that it was a positive session and am excited about trying again tomorrow. Is that the sun I see?

Is it possible to have one day without rain? Is it possible that the water at the pool actually got colder? Is it possible that God heard Mary's teeth chattering and decided it was a perfect time to bring out the thunder and lightening? "Everyone out of the pool!" Whoo-hoo!!! 10 minutes in the freezing pool, 10 happy mommies clambering up the ladder rushing for the nice warm shower. See you tomorrow.

swim lessons

Mary started swim lessons today. Because I have to be in the pool holding her, I only have pics of before and after. Luckily, we signed up for the same class as her friend, Jessica. I think she appreciated having a familiar face in the crowd. Brrr, it was cold! After, what seemed like a week of heavy continuous downpours and waking up to a drizzly overcast day, I wasn't too excited about jumping in the pool. Of course, the teacher made the mommies jump in first, so I had to plaster a smile on my face as I felt all my internal organs turn to ice. I pulled Mary in after me and she quickly wrapped her arms around my neck in a death grip and said "Brrrr." You got that right, kiddo. I'd say our first day went pretty well. She refused to put her chin in the water and wouldn't even attempt to blow bubbles, but I did get her to dunk her head by the end of the class and even float on her belly a bit. I think this is going to be a great class. Now if only we can have a bit of sun...

"Hmmm, what do you think, Jessica? They say it's fun"

"That was fun!"

cravings

Last night at 10:15pm, Doug and I are in bed reading when the characters in my book mention Doritos. Yum! Suddenly, I WANT Doritos. I looked over at Doug and said "I want Doritos".

Doug: "ok"
Kendra: "You'll go get me some?"
Doug: "Sure...Sunday" (it was Friday night!)
Kendra: "The package store is open 24 hours and I know they have them"
Doug: "Have fun"

What a caring husband. I decided to drop the subject. I kept reading and suddenly the characters were eating soup. Yum! What kind of soup do we have in the house? Hmmm, ramen, tomato, instant hot and sour.... Do I really want to heat up/cook soup at 10:15pm? I had to have something. I decided on cereal.

Doug: "Where are you going?"
Kendra: (sigh) "it's too much work to make soup, I'm getting cereal."
10 min. later...
Doug: "was it good?"
Kendra: "yeah, hit the spot. Couldn't decide between the oatmeal squares and the honey bunches of oats, so I mixed them both."

Good night

Really? Again?

Pregnancy induced dementia. I have diagnosed myself. Poor Doug and Mary.

Mary and I ran errands this morning. Our last stop was the commissary. I went to start the car after all the grocery shopping and ...nothing...dead...crap. Good thing Doug's here and not on a trip like last time this happened. So Mary and I walked back into the store to use the courtesy phone and call Doug. Thank goodness he was at his desk and thank goodness he was available to come help. So Mary and I were standing around outside waiting for him when it suddenly dawned on me that maybe I left the car in Drive again. Uh-oh, why didn't I check that before calling Doug? I looked in my window and yep, drive. Darn it! I did it again. I shifted into park and presto it started! Now I really felt like an idiot. What kind of car let's you stop the car and pull the key out of the ignition when it's still in drive? Apparently mine. Too late to call Doug back, so we waited and I had to tell him what I did. I told him that now he has something to complain about with all his co-workers. The wife whose losing her mind. At least it was a cheap fix...only my pride.

Well, I tried

Mary and I have a deal. She gets to brush her teeth in the morning, but Doug or I do it for her at night. That way, I figure she's learning how to do it, becoming independent and yet, I know she's getting at least one good cleaning in a day. Yesterday morning she was watching me brush my teeth and trying to mimic what I was doing. I sat down on the toilet seat and got really close to her. We were making such good progress when I accidentally sprayed her with mint flavored foam from my brush. Oops! All over her face and hair. Of course I rushed for the camera. The only spots you can see are in her hair, but believe me when I say they're on her face too. Ha, ha! I bet she stands further back today. Sorry Mary.

Sorry it's been so long since my last entry. Honestly, nothing too exciting has happened recently to blog about.

Mary's still her same cute self. She seems to have finally stopped biting and now only periodically hits, pushes and kicks when super tired. At least I can try to prevent injuries to her friends (soon to be ex, if she doesn't cut it out). Doug's hoping all our "talks" are finally getting though her stubborn head. She's still pretty rough with the cat. Poor Dumas is constantly being half dragged, half carried everywhere. She moans and cries, but never runs away. I think she secretly loves the attention. The transition to the big girl bed was a success. The potty training was a failure. Mary has decided she likes the diaper better and has no interest in the potty. I've decided to not stress about it. It will happen when it happens. I keep offering, but don't force the issue. Maybe she'll be more interested next month.

I'm hoping my nausea is gone for good. I get twinges every once in a while, but for the first time in a long time, the meat section at the commissary didn't make me want to vomit. Good sign. My first ultrasound was a beautiful sight. It amazes me when you can see the baby moving around, yet not feel anything. It makes the pregnancy more "real". According to the Doc, the baby's slightly bigger than expected, so they changed my due date to Dec.18th. I go back in a couple more weeks to find out the gender. We're so excited.

Mary starts swim lessons next week. I'm really hoping this will help her get used to water in her face. She's doing much better in the tub, but we still have to use the pink bath hat. I'm hoping to get some good pictures for the blog, but since I'm supposed to be in the water with her, it might not happen. You might only see before and after shots.

So for now, I'll leave you with a few pics of the tormentor.