August 31st

Saying goodbye is hard, even when you think you have it under control. Jake had to be in at 5:00 this morning but was able to come back and pick up Lil and I at 8:00 so we went to hang out with him at work until his manifest time at 10:00. We said our goodbye at the company building and avoided the big crowd. I teared enough as it was and didn't need to be with the blubbering crowd over where they were manifesting. Plus, then Jacob could be a little more composed and do his job instead of worrying about us. (or so I tell myself)

Rewind --- I was picking up toys in Lily's room last night and as I stood up something in my low, low back seized and would let go. I couldn't even stand up straight. I crawled to the living room, which had us both laughing so hard, and laid on the floor for the rest of the evening. (where I blogged to you from my iPhone) Jacob had to physically carry me to bed last night... I couldn't walk.

Needless to say I was worried about being able to move this morning, especially with Jacob deploying. But I was able to get out of bed and walking was tough but not impossible so we pushed through.

I had my appointment with the OB this afternoon. I took Lily to my friend Amy's. And the OB said that it sounded like joint pain where my pelvis joins my spine. He said I am more susceptible to it since I have already had one pregnancy, (good ol' elastine!) and that it should get better in about a week. Meanwhile... don't lift Lily as much as possible. And after that, be careful.

New Baby is just fine and dandy, or so I assume since no one said otherwise. ;) Nice heartbeat, if I do say so myself.

I went back over to Amy's to get Lily, where she totally spoiled and took care of me. We hung out and chatted. She gave Dawson and Lily a bath. (bending over is a bit hard for me right now) Lily borrowed some of Dawson's jammies even! She fed us dinner. ...I love her...

And then pulling into our driveway on our way home, I noticed a car pulling into the driveway behind me in the rear view mirror. We have new neighbors! I couldn't resist walking over to introduce ourselves. Nice young couple C, B and their little boy F. He looked to be about five or six months old. They said he's supposed to deploy soon too, so maybe we have new playmates. :) Now if you'll excuse me... I can't stop wondering if my new neighbors have something to sleep on so I have to go offer them my air mattress.

Holding Steady

Jake's date got pushed back a day, so we are enjoying our last evening together. (again)

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. It'll be nice to see that the baby has grown, even if it is just a fundal measurement here in the states. That was one nice thing about starting my prenatal care in Germany last time. Ultrasounds at every appointment. It's inteesting to look back at them now to guestimate how big this kid is. :)

Hopefully something more interesting to report tomorrow.

Not blogging tonight

I've got a nasty headache tonight. Just not feeling it. I'll try again tomorrow.

Crock-Pot Ribs

...by request...

• 3 lbs of short ribs... beef or pork, though I've always used pork - Kel, I look for a rack of ribs in the meat department that doesn't look too fatty, and what fat there is is evenly dispersed.
• 1/2 c finely chopped onion (Or dried minced onion or onion powder, I'm all about whatever's on hand. The jar will give you substitution measures.)
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 c catsup
• 1/2 c water
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp mustard

Cut the ribs into pairs, so they fit into the crock-pot all nice like. Mix all the other ingredients together, and then pour them over the ribs in the crock-pot. Cover and heat on low, 4-6 hours. The meat will fall right off the bones.

Enjoy!

My Strange Kid

We've been having some "last meals" around here for a few nights now. You know, foods Jacob won't be able to get for a while. Sunday night we had king crab legs. Tonight we had my crock-pot ribs with mashed potatoes and broccoli.

(Yes, I realize he will be able to get mashed potatoes and broccoli while he is gone, but not my crock-pot ribs!)

Well, my kiddo at the broccoli and refused the rest. She is so weird.

Another First

Her first gash on her face. Lil and Dawson were playing just a little too hard today. It might have been a finger nail, maybe it was a flying toy, who knows. It was probably just karma paying Lily back for chucking a book across the room and hitting Jackson last week.

She cried, it bled, Dawson cried, there were lots of mommy cuddles and then it was right back to playing.

Starting Early

I'm considering how soon we should institute chores for Lily.

She loves to vacuum. If I try to do the vacuuming without her she cries and fits until I relent and let her push. I would hate to discourage her....

Lily Grew

I swear Lil grew last night!

She drove me nuts today grabbing things off the table and the kitchen counter tops over and over and over again. She wasn't doing it yesterday.

My explaination? She grew.




No seriously, two weeks ago she was just under 31 inches tall on her wall chart and tonight she is 31 1/4 inches.

Last Minute Chores

We had a chore to finish before Jacob leaves next week.

We ran went out this afternoon and got hardware to anchor the dresser and hutch in Lily's room to the wall. I don't even want to imagine what my climbing monkey could do to herself!

But wouldn't you know it, we had trouble finding wall studs and needed bigger eyes (of the hook and eye persuasion) to put in the wall. So we had to run back out a second time for a stud finder and eyes. And nap time fell right in the middle of our outing.

When we got home we had a very tired girl, but we had to be in her room to finish our project so we put her in our bed where she cried and protested and cried some more. By the time we were done she was quiet so I went in to peek at her. She'd fallen asleep sitting up, and just fell over.

How do little kids sleep like that!?

For Meagan

Meagan asked me about cloth diapers a bit ago and I keep meaning to answer her, but I realized I don't have her email, etc... so I thought perhaps I'd blog to her.

I just hope I'm not too late.

I have experience with two types of cloth diapers.

Lily uses Bummis, which consist of a "whisper wrap" over a traditional prefolded cloth diaper. The system is similar to what our parents used on us, though there are no pins and the plastic diaper cover is replaced by a wrap that fastens at the sides like a disposable diaper does.

Jackson uses BumGenius 3.0 which are an "all-in-one" diaper. Works just like a disposable diaper only you can wash and reuse them. They have an inner liner that is pulled out during washing, and controls how absorptive the diaper acts.

They both work well.

The Bummis I bought came in two kits, one for 8-15lbs and the other for 15lbs and up, that included a number of prefolds and wraps that they determine are about what you would use in three days. But you can by wraps and prefolds individually and they come in an assortment of sizes. I have found that I haven't needed more than what came in the kits. I spent about $300 for both kits. As I look online I can only find organic kits, though they still cost about the same. $136 per kit at cottonbabies.com.

The BumGenius 3.0 are sold individually, but one size fits all... they have snaps on the front that adjust their rise to fit different size kids. They cost about $18 each and are available in organic cotton for about $25 dollars a piece. (the organic ones seem to have a bit larger leg gusset too, so they leak if they're not changed soon enough)

I only do the wash for Lil's diapers, though the method is the same. And a front loading machine works best. We use a dry pail method, meaning there is no water in the diaper pail, and solids get shaken out in the toilet. Just whatever is loose, so for little ones pretty much nothing. The rest goes in the pail. I do a first wash in cold water, then I treat stains that bother me and wash again in hot water. I used no more than 1/2 the recommended amount of detergent, and if the diapers start to seem less absorbent I throw in an extra rinse.

Oh! and they all need to be pre-washed about 3-5 times in HOT water before you use them... helps make them absorbent.

I think that is everything. If I missed something, let me know. Good Luck!

Time Flies

Today is the last day of my first trimester. Wow! Did that go fast?!

And wouldn't you know it, today was the worst I have felt this time around. I laid on the couch all morning nauseated and burpy... hungry, but the thought of food made my stomach roll. I think the burpy part is the worst.

Jacob came home relatively early and I was able to close my eyes for a while. Thank you darling!

And slowly, throughout the afternoon, I started to feel better.

Tomorrow is the start of my second trimester, so I should be in the clear.... Right?

?

I just got home from a last minute "the boss is taking the special speakers (who came in to talk to our battalion) out to dinner" outing. For whatever reason, I managed to convince myself that I would get out of there at a somewhat decent hour; call me naive. I just put my little girl to bed an hour and a half late.

And I feel guilty. :(

To make matters worse we ate outside, in the hot, sticky humidity. The car said 87 degrees on my drive home at a quarter to nine. Which had me a little cranky.

And I'm pretty tired.

So whatever it was that I brilliantly thought I would blog about tonight has completely left me and I'm going to bed.

The Table Arrived

And, oh, does she ever love it!

Play Date

We had a pretty nice afternoon today.

Amy and Dawson, Renee and Michaela came over to have lunch with Lily, Jackson and me and to hang out a bit today. Can you believe I didn't take a single picture!?

We had paninis and cherries for lunch, and the kids played nicely for about two hours! And then you could see them start to get tired. :) We had to break up the party for naptime.

Jacob is on "half days" so he came home right about then anyway and took over with Jack while I made Chicken Picata for dinner. Yum! It was a good food day!

And now I am tired... making a human sure saps my energy. So I am going to bed. :)

Time, Already?

We had our last A Company BBQ before the guys leave, last Friday. We had a pretty decent turn out. I can't believe how fast the time has come upon us!

Lil loved hanging out, just one of the big kids. They had a blast blowing bubbles and making chalk drawings. What I can't figure out is why she thinks eating a wet-one is a good idea?

Wheee!

Yes this is technically an infant toy... but we improvise where we can!

*taken with my iPhone!

Time Out

We've been seeing a lot of time-outs these days.

Sometimes even within the first 20 minutes of waking up in the morning! Lily is intent on pushing all the boundaries and testing whether or not we mean what we say. The computer and the x-box are her current favorite testing grounds.

Though that doesn't stop her from being creative. Tonight, she wanted to scream screech at the dinner table. I told her it wasn't nice to screech at the dinner table, she could tell us if she was all done, but she couldn't screech and if she continued she would go on time out. (nothing unusual there) So she screeched, and I took her to her crib. Not a sound from her room. A minute later I go pick her up and not a moment after we walked out the bedroom door, she started at it again! I turned around and put her right back in her crib... little pill.

But she didn't do it again.

At least, not tonight.

Splurge!

We drove through Wendy's on our way home this evening and had twisted frosties... there I confessed.
But seriously, I just splurged and spent a good chunk of my babysitting money (I sound like I'm fifteen!) on this darling little table and chair set for Lily! I just love the little cubbies! I ordered it online, of course, so now I just have to wait a week or so to see Lele sit at it. Argh!

I went back and forth between something like this table and the plastic fisher-price picnic table. While this one won't go outside, I think I want it mostly for inside anyway, and this one should last a few kids. :) I saw pics online of cute little toddlers eating their snacks at it, and of five and six year olds sitting at it to do "homework" so I am pretty convinced it will get its share of use.

A Year Ago (not quite today)

A year ago we were on leave/vacation, hanging in Alta/Pasadena, getting ready for Lily's baptism. Hard to believe my girl was ever rolly-polly. (Okay so she was never a chunk, but compared to now this picture shows rolls!)

She's still got crazy hair though!

Go Figure

I was at the thrift shop way back in April and picked up a book for $2.25 (figuring that was cheaper than anywhere but the library) that I thought would be nice to have on hand for when I really needed something to read. I brought it home and stashed it in the entryway closet with the diaper bag and my purse, on the shoe shelf. (Hey, I knew where it was!)

For whatever reason, in the back of my mind I thought it was a copy of The Poisonwood Bible. A book I've always thought I should read, since I saw it on my Aunt Amy's bookshelf back when I was in college.

Well today I saw The Poisonwood Bible on the living room bookshelf. So I wondered to myself... what could that book in the entryway closet be?

Do you remember back when I was sucked into The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane and couldn't put it down and listed a few other books I'd like to read? The Time Traveler's Wife was on that list.

Can you guess what book was in the entryway closet? The same book Aunt Helen recommended at the 4th of July party... The Time Traveler's Wife.

Glad I hadn't checked it out from the library yet... I'd have felt silly. (Okay, sillier.)

No Cavities!

I had a dentist's appointment today.

I made the appointment back in April, if you can believe it, when we knew we were going to start trying to get pregnant again soon. You know as preventative medicine. Today was the soonest I could get in.

I got a very good report! Dr Wynne-Hall even said that my gums looked so good she wouldn't have thought I was pregnant unless I told her. Which, of course, I had because I wasn't going to let them do x-rays... sometimes I am cautious. :)

I did ask about how soon I should bring in Lily. They don't really want to see her until she has 20 teeth. So we've go eight teeth to go!

Poor Jackson

Lily just loves him... to pieces!

More of the Same

Too hot outside.

Had to go to the commissary.

Lil started to go a little stir crazy to get out of the house, so Jake took her out to the swing, on the grounds that I would bathe the sweaty little girl that came back.

I'm feeling a little nauseated this evening. Just when I thought I was in the clear too. I've been feeling pretty good for the last few days.

The reality that Jacob is leaving at the end of the month is starting to sink in. :( I've been coaxing Lil to cuddle with Daddy as often as possible the last few days, for both their sakes.

Nothing New Here

Boring day today.

Too hot to go outside.

Played with Lily on the floor.

Made burgers for dinner.

Jake and I are each going to get a fix of our respective video games tonight (Halo and Sims) and call it good.

Dare Devil

Let me start with, the computer monitor is working passably well. The buttons only work when they want to, but we never use them anyway, so we're in pretty good shape.


Our daughter on the other hand, is part monkey from the best I can figure:
She has absolutly no fear when it comes to climbing things, and sooner or later I know she's going to get hurt! As it is I hear, "hep, hep, he-e-ep!" a dozen times a day, whenever Lily needs un-stucking.

Possible Disaster

Lily can climb the chairs. Which means if we forget to push them in, we might walk into the room to find her on the table.

She is also very interested in drinking out of our cups. Can't leave those unattended either.

Today I left my cup of juice/water on the computer desk... I'm sure you get where this is going.

Our moniter is currently in a questionable state. I have it sitting in a tray of rice and will test it out tomorrow. Guess I got an iPhone not a moment too soon. (you know, so I can post, it has nothing to do with all the neat apps!)

i Did It

So with Jake leaving at the end of the month and my phone acting up, something had to be done. My phone has recently decided that it should turn off whenever it feels like, be it in the middle of a phone call or just sitting in my purse. I have no idea how many calls I've missed that way!

We definitly don't want to be missing any phone calls from Jake! Some of you girls know what I am talking about. That is a seriously bad feeling. And we are one of those families that don't have a "home" phone. So we decided it was time that I got a new (ie. Reliable) phone.

I gave in to my secret (okay, not so secret) hearts desire and got an iPhone. I can see how these things can be adictive!

I love my new toy tool!


Btw, I wrote this from my iPhone!

Wheeee!

She has figured out how to climb up in the infant swing and turn it on... all by herself! Oh, and start the lullaby function too.

Good thing she only weighs 20lbs!

Fast Results

So I was a good girl and went in to do the fasting three hour glucose test first thing this morning.

Ugh, that is so not my favorite drink ever! I had the orange this time. The grape is the worst, the lemon-lime was tolerable and I've never had the strawberry.

They took my last draw shortly before 11:00. I went and picked up the kids and brought them home for lunch. (I was HUNGRY!) At 12:45 the Nurse Practitioner called me to tell me my numbers were fine!

Woo-Who!

Talk about some quick results. I almost feel bad for griping about them not doing a glucose reading while you are there... almost.

(BTW, they did do a glucose metering right away, though they still wouldn't share the results with me, and then they sent the rest of the vial to the main laboratory for confirmation. I asked.)

Diaper Drama

So Lily has shown an ability to open Velcro for a while now, maybe a month or two. And the few times she has shown interest in the Velcro on her cloth diaper covers we have been able to dissuade and distract her.

But yesterday there was no distracting her and so we had some naked time. Nothing wrong with a little naked time.

Today, not thinking, I put Lele down for her morning nap in a t-shirt and diaper. And when I could hear her singing to herself about 45 minutes later I snuck in her room to find her diaper-less, patting a big yellow spot on the mattress.


So I thought I had it figured out... we had to go back to onesies or make sure we had pants on. That way the Velcro was not so interesting. No problem.

That is, until I saw this:
and the photo doesn't do it justice. Lil just stuck her hand down the neck of her onesie instead. She had that diaper way outside the neck of her shirt before I got to the camera!

Any sage advice or bright ideas? Besides making her wear zippered footie-pajamas all day long.

In Again

What is it with that girl and being "in"?