Bits and Pieces

Today's doctor's appointment went well. Nothing exciting, just moving along as expected. Baby's heartbeat was 150 exactly... not high, not low... nothing for all you superstitious folks out there. I call tomorrow to make my ultrasound appointment so we all have to wait just a little bit longer to find out this baby's gender. :)

Lily has a rattly cough today. No other symptoms, so I'm hoping its just the weather changing. And crossing my fingers I'm not coughing tomorrow.

Jacob has been gone for a whole month now. One down, 11 more to go!

Oh, and I like Glee. Which is why this post is going up so late. And now I'm headed to bed. :)

First Trip to Starbucks

I’m pretty sure today was the first time Lil has ever been to a Starbucks.

We had to go to the post office to mail Jake’s box. (We learned the hard way you can’t do click-n-ship since the customs form has to be hand stamped.) And since Starbuck is right by the post office, and I hadn’t had any coffee yet this morning, we had to stop.

Lil got to have her own chocolate milk box, oh boy did she ever love that. And we sat by the cream and sugar station so she got to talk to all the people passing by which, if you know my kid, also pleased her immensely. :)

(In case you’re curious, I had a decaf caramel macchiato.)

I Thought I Was Sooooo Smart

Last Monday, if you will recall, I lamented that our AC was out and that I would be calling the housing office first thing Tuesday morning.

I shut the air conditioner off Monday evening and left it off so as not to cause more damage.

And I called as soon as they opened at 8:00am. And I got the answering machine. So I called back in 5 minutes thinking they had just gotten into the office, and maybe my clocks are fast. And I got the machine. So I called back at ten after. Same machine. I called every ten minutes or so until 8:40 when I was quite frustrated and I thought I'd just go look in the breaker box one more time. Everything still looked normal. But I manually flipped the AC switch just for the heck of it... maybe it would reset it? And I turned the air conditioner back on to see what would happen.

Everything was back to normal! Yay! Just a little tinkering and I had fixed it....


Okay, I didn't really believe that. I was cautiously optimistic however.

Fast forward to today, when Lil and I got up from our afternoon nap and the living room was 79 degrees. :( The AC is broke again.

This time I didn't wait around, I called Picerne Housing right away. They sent someone out to look at the system. There is ice all over the pipes in the compressor unit and the control unit in the water heater closet. (I didn't think to look there!) All I had done last week was allow the pipes to thaw out over night, and when I turned the system back on in the morning it was fine. That is, until we had another cool night allowing the pipes to freeze over again.

So there is nothing he can do to diagnose the situation until the pipes thaw out again.

We are AC-less.

At least its only 85 out today. And it's only supposed to be 74 tomorrow. Just cool enough for it to be tough for the maintenance guy to check the freon levels.

Go figure.

No Luck

No luck with the maternity jeans today.

Got a nice sweater and a cute dress though.

I know I've seen maternity jeans with belt loops. In fact my friend Staci is lending me a pair... I just need to get a bigger belt. :) But she's tiny so they won't last me forever and it'd be nice to have my own pair.

We stopped by A Pea in the Pod today, and even they didn't have any... even with their 249 dollars a pair designer jeans. They had a sketch on the wall... of the exact thing I am looking for! But the lady working there said she didn't know why they advertised them, she had never seen them in the store.

I have a pair of pants and a pair of capris with the over the belly "secret fit" panel. But I still find that after one day of wear the elastic is too tired to hold the weight of the denim up... not to mention that the denim is so stretched they give me a saggy butt. :( And I would never be able to get a smaller size to fit straight out of the dryer. I'd like to be able to get more than one day's wear out of a pair of jeans. Is that weird?

The hunt goes on.

Things on My Mind

• Beth is awesome for being willing to lend us one of her aviation child restraints for our flight in November.
  
  
• Seriously considering buying a GoGo Kidz Travelmate... to turn Lil's carseat into a stroller in the airport. I have nightmares about getting to our destination without our carseat, but Lil can't sleep upright in the carseat on the plane, hence borrowing from Beth. At least I can gate check the carseat, but I really don't want to backpack the thing when I'm seven months pregnant.
  
  
• Mulling over interesting website I found a few days ago: http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/about-2/
  
  
• Crossing my fingers that I can find maternity jeans with belt loops on my shopping trip tomorrow. I'm tired of my pants falling down!

Ashamed to Admit

I don't know what it is about a Whopper with cheese, this pregnancy.

Whatever it is, we've had Burger King almost every week for a couple of months now.

They just taste so good.

Lil an I went to the commissary tonight and since it was about dinner time as we left, we stopped by the drive-through on our way home. Sometimes I get Lil a burger, sometimes chicken tenders. And she LOVES fries. What little kid doesn't? Tonight I got Lil chicken tenders. She ate two in the car on the drive home, but when we got home and I opened a BBQ sauce for her she switched to dipping.

Up until tonight she's always been really good about taking a bite when she dips. Not tonight. Tonight I think I fed my kid BBQ sauce for dinner.

Good thing she ate her baby carrots while we were in the commissary!

A Present for Me

I bought myself a present.

I was at Joann's. Yes, again. But they didn't have the grommets I was looking for, so I had no use for my 40% off coupon. When it occurred to me to glance through the books. I would normally never buy a book at Joann's because they can be quite spendy... but 40%! Why had I never thought of this before?

As I was browsing I came across this:
Now, I don't do that much sewing. But I am fascinated by technique, as so I succumbed to the siren call of pattern creation, modification and tailoring. Did you know most patterns are made for a B cup figure?

Until now, I've always had to mess with fitting something over and over again... but not anymore! My current favorite page:
In case you can't read any of that it says Advanced Pattern Alteration: Bust with Large Cup. Not to mention the section on splicing two patterns together, or how to adjust the bunching of fabric that I always seem to get at the back of my waist with most dresses.

And the sections about tailoring are so cool! I've always hated unfinished seams....

Now if I just had a project in mind. :)

(I need another project like I need a hole in my head!)

Saturday Shopping

Saturday Amy and I took Dawson and Lily to Southern Pines so I could buy yarn. What can I say, they love me. D and L mostly just enjoying strolling the sidewalks. :)

23 Days

Today is the day Lily realized she couldn't find her Daddy. 23 days after he left.

We watched a video of him reading her a book a little while ago and then went to take a bath. You know, regular winding down the day stuff. When she got out of the bath and got dressed she started walking around the circle that is our living room, dining room, kitchen calling for him.

"Daddy? Daddy?

Daddy? Daddy?

Daddy? Daddy?"

I've told her daddy is at work, and that seems to be enough.

At least for tonight....

Day 265

Can you believe it!?

One hundred more days and I will have completed Blog 365.



Are you tired of us yet?

This and That

1. It's knitting season again! ...or at least, it is in my house. I picked up about $80 worth of yarn at my favorite (more like only) local little yarn shop over the weekend. You know, to get started on Christmas presents. And that's all I can say about that. :)

2. I'm a rotten mom. All Lily's neediness and whining yesterday was because she was teething. Both canines on the top are coming in. I noticed during our tickle fight this morning. And I basically told her to suck it up. How much do I suck?

3. My air conditioner is broken. :( The temperature felt a little warm around lunch time today, so I went to check the thermostat. I keep it at 76 degrees and it read 78. So I've been paying attention to it all afternoon and it hasn't shut off at all, but the temperature has continued to creep up. I've shut it all down for the night... hate to cause more damage running it, or worse yet cause a fire. But I'll be calling the Picerne housing office first thing in the morning.

4. Oh! And I almost forgot to mention... tonight is the premier of House!!!

"I'm Bored"

My not-yet-two-year-old has decided it is my job to keep her entertained. I can just hear her whining, "Mom, I'm bored!" even if she doesn't have the words yet.

This morning was interesting. She has a pair of velcro shoes that she can get on all by herself. So this morning I walked into the kitchen to find her, shoes on, still in her pajamas, knocking on the door because she was ready to go out. It was 8:00! Mass doesn't start until 9:30. So what do we do? We spent an hour at the park. Bright and early. Killing time before church started.

We came home after mass for naptime and promptly (after lunch) went right back out to run errands, stopping at Target, Lowe's and Joann's. I was worn out so I figured she must be too. Not so much.

"Book, book?" (Read me books.)

"Block?" (Build my block tower.) "More?" (Again.) "More?" (Again.)

and the new fav "Dor?" "Dor?" (Can we watch Dora?) Thanks to Netflix we can instantly stream Dora (and Kipper, Thomas and Angelina too) episodes whenever we want.

I do not think it is unreasonable to think she can play by herself for a little bit without needing outside stimulation. But she sure does!

It's currently naptime. I hope she wakes up a little less needy.

Sleep Over

Lily had her first sleep over!

My friend Amy was at a meeting around the corner from my house last night, and when that meeting started to run long she called and asked if Lily's buddy, Dawson, could come over to go to bed. I, of course, said yes!

When her meeting was done Dawson was sound asleep, and loading him into the car, then taking him out of the car and putting him in bed seemed like a lot of disturbing. We had plans to go out this morning together, so I suggested she just leave him and come back this morning. And she did!

Both kids slept soundly all night long. When I went in to get them up at 7:30 this morning they were both playing quietly (in separate rooms) and as soon as they saw each other they were squealling in delight.

Neither kid asked to eat for at least 15 minutes... usually an immediate response from both of them as soon as they wake up.

18 months old and already had a sleep over. Jeez! :D

A Year Ago

A year ago this weekend we were just moving into our house. We spent the weekend painting. I had a little helper...

...now I have a big helper, who wants to help with EVERYTHING!!!

Someday it might actually be helpful. ;)

Spaghetti Face

Today was a good eatting day!

Lily fed herself a bowl full of refried beans and cheese for lunch... with a spoon... and practically scraped the bowl clean!

And then what's not to love about spaghetti face?

Sleeping - Part II

We are not co-sleepers.

Not because I think there is anything wrong with co-sleeping. But because I like my sleep.

You see, my Lily likes to hold hands and her little fingers just won't stop moving. It takes her for.ever. to fall asleep, and I just haven't managed to fall asleep before her.

And then if she does wake in the night, she doesn't just roll over and go back to sleep, she wants to climb up on top of me to sleep. Cute, but not my favorite.


Besides, you should see my sleeping arrangement since Jake left. :) I cocoon myself with pillows. One king size pillow to either side of me, to prop up which ever leg suits my fancy. (Plus they keep my from rolling onto my back, rumor has it that's bad.) And of course the one under my head.

Sleeping

My girl gets to sleep with her Daddy...

...doll that is. :)

Big Head

We had Lily's eighteen month well baby appointment this morning.

Lily is in the 45th percentile for height at 31.5 inches tall.
the 29th percentile for weight at 23 pounds.
and the 77th percentile for head circumference at 18.7 inches.

My little girl has a big head.


The doctor joked it was to hold all her brains. But he's never met Jacob before and he hardly knows me, so I don't think he was knocking us. ;)

Other than that... two shots, some tylenol and a nap. Jackson is home with his daddy today so we're just going to take it easy, just us girls.

Success

Lil and I went to mass and the commissary this morning. :) By ourselves. (I was a slacker last week and didn't take her to church.)

And she was a GOOD girl.

She cuddled me most of mass b/c we sat near a couple of uniformed soldiers and she was being shy. She only got talkative at the very end of mass, after communion when people think they are sneaking out, because she could then see another little boy she knows a few pews back and they started squealing at each other.

At the commissary we managed to get one of the carts with a "rocket-ship" for her to sit in. It has a stearing wheel that keeps her pretty happy, and we didn't need but a few things so we were quick.

And now it's nap time. :) Nice Sunday!

The Holiday

I'm watching The Holiday, by myself. Total chick flick.

Loving it.

Jude Law just put on these dorky looking glasses and grinned. I'm sold...

;)



*edit - I just finished watching the movie. The end was a little corny, esp Cameron Diaz running in the snow pausing every few seconds. Feeling just a little bit let down. Most of the story was nice though....

FRG meeting

I just got done with my first solo Family Readiness Group meeting! I did it. I pulled it off. And now that I'm done I'm tired!

Special thanks to my friend Ruth. Little did I realize, but running a meeting with a munchkin is rough. Ruth showed up in the middle of my meeting and whisked my little girl away. I'm sure Lily was much happier playing with Victoria and Ruth and getting all the attention than fighting, trying to get mine anyway. (and I'm sure she ate better too... I'd chose Puerto Rican food over potluck too if given the choice)

Lesson learned: Childcare for FRG nights.

And with that I'm signing off tonight... saving the ever changing nap time conundrum for tomorrow night. :)

Are You Tired Yet?

I know, I know... again with the vacuuming! But the nuances just crack me up.

Gotta love the heels first thing in the morning:

And I personally love the way she holds the cord in her left hand. :D

Back to the Drawing Board

Some of you may remember the diaper drama of last month. Lily had discovered how to take off her cloth diaper covers.

Since then I have reluctantly succumbed to disposable diapers, which somehow managed to stay on. But yesterday and today, all that has changed.

Yesterday Lil managed to get the right tab undone... under her skort... and then proceeded to wiggle the diaper down her left leg. Look Ma, no underwear!

Today Lily passively protested her morning nap by playing through it. (that's a whole other blog post) About half way through the "quiet time" she sounded like she was giggling and enjoying herself a little too much so I went to investigate. Upon opening the door I was greeted with a "Hi!" from my totally naked little girl, who's clothes were on the floor and diaper strewn behind the crib. Guess I should be careful what I wish for.

Time to break out the duct tape.

Planning Ahead

I know what Lil's going to be for Halloween:


CUTE!

I splurged and bought from Pottery Barn Kids. It is soooooo soft and snuggly. She had a blast playing in it.

And the best part... it has a little tail that wiggles when she walks!

Breaks My Heart

Okay, so out of context this picture from the morning Jacob deployed looks like Lily is really upset to see Daddy go. In reality, it is just nap time and we are having a meltdown. But someday we'll be able to tease her about it. :)

Thanks for the picture Michelle!

It Has Begun

The posing of the small toys has officially begun:

She's so stinking cute! Oh wait... I'm biased.

Crafty is Just in My Genes

I never shared with you the birthday present my dad made for me, did I?

You see, my dad has made several bells over the years, out of empty gas cylinders. Many of them have been presents for other people and I have always thought they were neat and wanted one. Now, as you can imagine, they could be pretty large and quite heavy. Not exactly suitable for a life of moving around.

And they aren't just plain metal cylinders when he is done. He masks off patterns with tape and then spray paints them so that when the paint is dry and the tape is pealed away pretty grasses and flowers are left behind.

This year Dad surprised me and made a pair of bells out of smaller aluminum canisters. Sorry, I don't remember what they once held, so I can't share that bit of info. So I finally get my own bell(s) and they sound so lovely! Yay!


See... the craftiness is just in my genes!

Let's Just Be Glad It's Pretend

I was cleaning the dining room this morning because I am having a few ladies over to scrapbook tomorrow and its always nice when there is a table to work on. :)

Lil was playing so nicely by herself, and eventually I got curious enough to look around to see what she was up to. My darling child was walking around the circle of the living room, kitchen and dining room; new hat on her head, (backwards, of course!) necklaces (plural) hung around her neck, talking on her cell phone.

When did Lily become a teenager?

Getting Smarter by the Day

We bought Lily some new pajamas at Old Navy a couple of days ago. (Did you know Old Navy gives military ID holders 10% off on the 1st of the month?)

I let her take a set out if the package the other morning and she proceeded to put the shirt on her legs all by herself.

Later that same day she was pulling clothes out of her pant drawer and had worked a skirt up one leg and a pair of shorts up the other. All this over the outfit she was already wearing.

I thought they were supposed to start taking their own clothes off before they start putting 'em on... but what do I know?

Ok Seriously

Try to keep from laughing... I dare you.

Two minutes plus of Lily chattering away.

Okay seriously, don't watch the whole thing unless you're really bored or love us as if you were related by blood, cause it goes on and on and on. And that's just the clip... she went on long before and long after the camera was on.

(Sometimes I think it looks like a badly dubbed foreign film!)



I know she's trying to tell me something... just what, I haven't quite figured out.

Dear Friends

I have such dear friends! Thank you for all your well wishes, thoughts and prayers! I know most of us are far apart, but I can still feel all the love that's been sent our way over the last couple of days. :)

Jacob passed through Maine on his way out yesterday. There's a group that takes pictures of all the soldiers that pass through and posts them on the internet:

Lil totally got a kick out of seeing Daddy on the computer. (Even though she's seen hundreds of pictures of him on the screen before.)

On a happy note, my back feels better than it did yesterday! I was afraid it was going to be more like a month before I felt better but at this rate maybe the Dr was right and it will clear up in about a week. Now, if I can just keep from re-injuring it....