food for thought

Interesting:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/26/ING3PHRU681.DTL

In other news, Kate is now holding herself up on toys and furniture. Heart...seizing...up...ack. She has this little push toy lawnmower sort of thing that Aunt Buji got her, and she can now walk with it, with some help. If we hold onto the base so she doesn't push it too fast, she can walk with it. And I think we're going to have to lower the crib mattress this weekend because she keeps getting into the crawling stance and I'm afraid she's going to pull herself up on the rails and go over the side.

Yesterday I got an email from Tim that let me know that life as I know it can change very quickly, and you've got to be ready to make decisions. Battle Creek ANG is hiring a couple of full-time pilots. They'll be moving to Selfridge ANG base in the next couple of years. Do I want to live in Michigan? Not particularly, but you've always gotta be able to consider what is next. For now, I'll enjoy my time here in AZ. Today it's supposed to be 72...brrr! But it's going to be in the 90s by Sunday. Quite a jump in temperatures in a couple of days.

other mothers: take no offense

I have the cutest baby in the world! We took Kate to the Picture People last weekend for her 7mo photos. I have tired of JC Penny's backgrounds, and she hasn't wanted to smile for them lately, so we shook it up a bit and went to the mall for pictures this month. Holy expensive, but man did they turn out cute! Lucky for her, she got Tim's photogenic gene.



















I noticed something funny about a month ago: the butts of all Kate's stuffed animals are getting 'worn' and look very slobbered-on. She likes to chew on the tags of her toys, and those tags happen to usually be on the butt of the animal. It's kind of funny...and surely something she will not enjoy being teased about later!





I also have to welcome Kate's newest cousin: Haddie Joy! Haddie was born on Monday, and she's a cutie. She's currently in the NICU at OHSU as they try to figure out what is causing some problems. Lots of prayers for you guys, Tom & Sheila.

will flirt for food

Kate wants to try all the big kid food out there now. We've let her try a few things as we eat them, and now she wants it all. She gets this cute smile on her face, and tilts her head sideways, giving you this flirty look that she thinks will get her a taste of what's on your plate. And then she looks forlornly at you as you eat, begging with her eyes to just try one bite. Just one, Mom. It's so cute, but man does it make you feel guilty for eating in front of her! Last month we went walking around Reid Park, which is about 3 miles, and partway through we crossed the street to the mall because I had to pick up her photos. I had forgotten to bring any food with me and I was suddenly starving. It also happened to be her lunchtime, and she was obviously hungry. But if I fed her without eating (at the mall no less) I was going to pass out and what kind of a mom would do that? So I got a corn dog and yogurt and inhaled them. She sat in her stroller and just watched me with big eyes. It was so so sad. I felt incredibly guilty, but she didn't make a peep. She just gave me looks. She is going to be such a great manipulator when she gets older.

just a bunch of photos

We had another swim today, and Kate's starting to enjoy her time in the water more, I think. It tires her out, so she takes a long nap in the afternoon! She is trying like crazy to crawl, and is doing push-ups more and more. She is also pushing herself backwards, giving herself lovely rugburns, and is generally Ms Rolley-Polley.

ooooh, this might be dangerous

Video! Let's try one out just to see how it works for y'all. This one is Kate eating some peaches.

http://media.putfile.com/mmmpeaches

keeping in touch with friends

As many of you know, I didn't care much for North Carolina. There were many reasons for this, probably some of the biggest being that I could not for the life of me find a job that suited me, it was freakin hot and humid, and it was my first time moving away from Seattle (for longer than the 6 months I lived in London). But, as I have mentioned in a previous post, the mind is a silly, fickle thing, and one often forgets the strife and pain of previous circumstances when looking back in time. What makes it so easy to forget about the negatives of my time spent in NC is mostly by knowing that I met some amazing people while we were there. I have had 2 fun phone calls in the past 2 days to remind me of this - Tabitha called today, and Heather called yesterday. And I really have to give Heather some credit because I think she went to great lengths to find me. Way to go, Heather! And way to go Tabitha (and Kevin, wink wink)... Also, congratulations to Samantha and Robert on their second beautiful baby boy, Charlie!

Other than phone calls, there really hasn't been much going on here to call home about. It's sunny, in the 80s. The pool is open. You should come visit. Kate says so. And that about wraps it up for today. I leave you with more photos of baby girl, smiling and telling me she's going to crawl soon.

Happy Easter!

I know it's Monday, not Easter, but we were busy all weekend and I'm just now getting a chance to update the blog. Kate's getting ready to crawl and we're trying to baby-proof areas of the house. And we had to try out the pool! It's finally warm enough to swim in, supposedly. It's 80 in the pool, and although I thought that 80 would be great way back when it was 65 in the pool, I now realize that 80 really isn't that warm, unless you're feeling particularly warm when you get in. But we braved the chill to take a couple of dips, and even took Kate for her first "swim". She did okay the first day, not so well the second day (see her crying and trying to climb out of the pool), and she did really well today when I took her in. She kept trying to grab the bubbles in the water. I'm not sure she liked the splashing I was doing to create the bubbles, but it's a work in progress. And she looks sooo cute in her little bikini! Hope you all had a happy Easter!

posting comments, a how-to session brought to you by Niki

It took a civil engineer to figure out how to post comments to this blog, non-anonymously. Yes, you just click on the 'other' button on the comment page. It's that simple (no offense to Niki!). So, post away.

Not much new here. Today we went to lunch at Rocco's Chicago Pizza, and it rocked. Yum. Love Chicago pizza. If their beer selection was better, I'd nominate them over Zachary's for best pizza in Tucson. Kate did pretty well at the restaurant. She kept grabbing Matthew, Jill's son. Flirt? Just trying to grab anything but all the toys in front of her? Who knows. She got another opportunity to drink out of a big girl cup, tried another lemon (I know I shouldn't let her, but it's so fun), and licked my pizza crust. She didn't like that too much. Probably not much taste. I had taken all the yummy pepperoni and olives off of it.

The other day I gave Kate a taste of grapefruit. She don' lika that stuff. Poor kid. Someday I'll stop being so mean.

Hope you are having a fabulous Good Friday!

ack, i think it's starting already

It's 95 today. Man. Somehow you forget just how hot it can get here (and I think 95 is hot?! Just me wait until it's 105, or 115! Yeehaw.) And in the summer months, you forget how cold it gets in the winter. It couldn't possibly snow here, could it? I seem to have a short-term memory, which will serve me well when I decide to give birth to another baby, move back to the Pacific Northwest (it can't rain that much there), get my instrument pilot rating, or any of the other random things that just aren't sane. That pool cover is working, though. The top layer of water feels like a bath tub! Stir it up and it gets a little colder, but give me some yardwork in this heat and I'll be jumping in in no time.

That wine-tasting party we went to last weekend is another example of forgetfulness, I think. All of us at the party met in Korea. And we all agreed that we enjoyed our time there. I mean, I liked Korea quite a bit, but there were certainly times where I was done and ready to come back to the good ole USofA. For instance, when I was flying. When I got here to Tucson and started flying with Kelly, my instructor, I laughed to find out that I had more actual instrument time than she did! She has like 5000 hours! My first flight in Korea logged me .3 hours of instruments, I think. Good old Songtan. Living there was fun, but flying there was a very unique experience.

I'm attaching some photos of flight over Korea, so that those of you who are pilots, can see why I was freaked out to do a solo cross-country to Camp Page which is on the DMZ. "You can't miss it," said my instructor. "But if I do?!" Getting shot down over North Korea was not my idea of how to spend your time wisely in Korea.

The photo way up top is Osan AB.

The photo above is a bridge. Can ya see it? Can ya?

The photo to the right is rice paddies in May.










The photo to the left is the area west of base. This is VFR, folks. Actually, maybe this was SVFR, from my first flight. Can't remember.

So when it gets too stinkin hot here for my brain to function, I need to remind myself of the positives: bad visibility here is 10,000 scattered, 10 miles vis. And the heat is why we got a pool.

A blog posting wouldn't be complete without a picture of baby girl, so here ya go. Addicts!

tummy sleeping

Kate's newest favorite thing to do is to flip over onto her tummy. It's great that she is finally doing this, but now she's doing it at naptime, and it's kinda freaking me out. I know you're not supposed to put babies on their tummies when they go to sleep, but I guess it's okay if they get there themselves? I hope so! She seems to enjoy sleeping that way.

I had been worried that she was losing some of her rolls, but as you can see, she's still got em! Right on, baby girl.

Kate seems to have red hair when she's near green. I had noticed bits of red before, but I'd never put her against a green background before. Wow. She looks like her cousins! I wonder if she'll keep the red hair and blue eyes. I hope so - they are such a great combo.

i'm an addict, he's an addict, wouldn'tcha like to be an addict too?

This blog thing is addictive. It's kind of like how I remember email to be, way back when. I would sit in the email lab at UW, typing away to this guy I knew from OSU...but I digress. Really, this is cooler than email, because it looks like you've created something. Artsy photos, witty commentary, cool graphics. When I started our website almost 2 years ago, I was pretty excited about it. But the joy wore off, as I constantly clicked and dragged my posts and photos all over the place. Pain in the ass. But this is so easy! It's candy, baby, and I'm addicted. I mean, I'm online, emailing people anyway, right? So why not just type in this little box, add a couple of photos, and voila! a new blog post. People can come by and look at it if they want. And if they do, they'll surely leave a comment, right? I mean, I've taken the time to write, they've taken the time to read... (Carrie, this whole paragraph? It's for you. It really is that easy!)

If I didn't take so many silly photos of my baby girl, I'd just forgo the shutterfly thing. That takes much longer than this. But alas, we all know I just love to click away, and so you'll still get the monthly shutterfly emails from me, until Kate's one. Which is like next month. Naw, she's only 6 1/2 months, but man did those months fly by. Yesterday, she learned a new trick. I guess she's kind of old for this one, but she's chubsy so she has a hall pass. She was down for her early afternoon nap, talking to herself, like she does when she goes to sleep. But this talking went on and on. And on. And so I put down my paintbrush (I'm still painting the living room - don't ask) and went back to see what was going on. She had flipped herself over onto her stomach and was playing with her toys, drooling all over the place. Babbling away. She turned to smile winningly at me when I walked over to her crib. So after her nap, we had some tummy time and she rolled over, front to back and back to front about 4 more times. I think she finally gets it. She's rolled over by accident a few times, but now I think she knows what she's doing. And that means my life is about to get that much richer, doesn't it parents? Sigh. I used to be able to leave her on the ground, 3 feet away from things that babies shouldn't touch. This morning I did that, and after leaving her there for just a minute she had flipped over and grabbed a wall-hanging I had left near her on the floor. I am painting, did I mention that? All the artwork is on the floor. So, it's time to start cleaning up the living room, putting things away. She'll probably start crawling next week, right?

the airplanes

My Grandma wanted to know the difference between the Skyhawk and the Warthog. They are quite different, as you can see...my plane has a single prop engine and no gun, and Tim's plane has 2 jet engines and a big gun. But mine can fly backwards, and his can't. =)

what's next?

Venting: I was just listening to the local news, and apparently it has been illegal to smoke in most public places in Sedona for a month now. Public places, including restaurants and bars. I don't smoke and I think it's a stupid habit, but doesn't it worry anyone that an individual right such as smoking is disappearing from many cities across this country? I wonder what is next...as it stands now, Texas is arresting people for being drunk in bars. Even at hotel bars, where the drunk patrons are staying at the hotel for the night. Wow. Go Texas.


Back to my favorite subject: Kate slept all night last night! After waking up at about 9pm and crying for quite some time. Her nose was all stuffed up and she became very annoyed with me as I tried to suction the snot out of the way. She couldn't breathe, I tried to help, she wouldn't look at me afterwards. Tim had to calm her down and get her back to sleep. But then she slept all night long! And I am a much happier girl today because of it. Thank you, Kate!

teething and a cold? at the same time?

Are you kidding me? Kate now has her first full-blown cold. And when I stated earlier that she was crabby, I had no idea... Poor kid. She sounds so cute, though, all stuffed up. Parents are so mean, huh?

We took her to my sister's house last night for a few hours, so we could go to a wine-tasting party. Poor Jess. Poor Kate. I guess there was a lot of crying (Kate, not my sister), and not much sleeping. Which continued throughout the night. Actually, Tim was able to take her out of her carseat and put her into her crib when we got home, all without her waking up. I didn't think that was possible. She must have been really tired. She didn't wake up until 2am, I think because the tylenol had worn off. Tim got her back to sleep, and she was good for another few hours, but then didn't want to take her morning nap this morning. So goes it on this lovely weekend. But she's sleeping now!

Us, we're just up to the usual. Painting the living room, working in the yard. Nothing too exciting. Last night was fun, though! We got to see friends of ours from Korea that we hadn't seen in about a year. And more importantly, we got to drink wine.

teething is no fun for anyone

I think Kate is teething. I thought she was teething starting about 3 months ago because she started drooling like crazy, but now she's added crabbiness and it stinks! Crabby and needy. She used to sleep from about 6:30pm to 7am. Now she wakes up several times before 10pm, crying this horrible screech that is just the right pitch to break glass and your sanity. Last night she woke up at like 4am, and then at 5am, and then again around 6:30am. And I am tired. I have been spoiled with this whole go to bed before 7pm thing for months, and now she's back to waking up all the time. Maybe she'll get all her teeth at once and we won't have to deal with this again. Ha. Please, parents, tell me this is short-lived.

Lucky for her, she's cute, and we can't really hold it against her. She makes great faces when trying new foods:















Giving her a dill pickle was one of the funniest things we've done with her (to her?). Make sure you always have the camera on hand when you give a baby new foods.

On a different topic...I love Netflix. We've had them for years, and always thought it was one of the best things ever. But I don't know if it's our local distribution center or Netflix in general (anyone??) - we've gotten so many damaged DVDs lately. Is it that Blockbuster employees are sabotaging the discs in an effort to put Netflix out of business? Aah, conspiracy. Or is Netflix just not living up to my idea of how great it is?

To end on a positive note. Let me think. Oh, yeah. It's supposed to be sunny and 88 this weekend. A little warm for my taste, but we just got a pool cover and are hoping that this will help warm the frigid waters enough to get in it this month. Yahoo! It's almost pool season...which means I need to start running.
I think spring break is over for most of you, but it would be great if you'd come visit, even for just a weekend! The weather is wonderful, and our backyard smells like heaven. We have this itty-bitty little lemon tree that we will probably never see lemons from, and it has these amazing blossoms that smell like Hawaii. So come on down and visit and let us share a little bit of heaven with you!

entering the 21st century?

So I guess everyone has a blog, right? Since our website is up for renewal, a friend of mine (Katie D) recommended we start a blog instead of continuing with our website. Now, if only my blog will be as hip and funny as hers...then maybe this new path will work out.

In any case, I'll start by posting some recent photos of our daughter, affectionately known (to me) as Chubsy. We're in the process of trying lots of new foods (hence the nickname - she has a 'healthy appetite'), but she doesn't like all of them...for example: peaches. They make her blink. And say 'aaaah, aaaah' a lot. It's really pretty funny, but she makes such horrible faces that I think we're going to hold off on peaches for awhile. I don't want her to hate peaches for the rest of her life. I guess my step-sister tried papaya at this age and hated it. And still hates it. So, peaches will wait. But she does want to try everything, especially drinking out of a big girl cup.



A couple of weeks ago we took her to the Frog & Firkin. Yes, that is a bar. We took our baby to a bar. Where we fed her lemons (I know, no citrus before 12mo), and let her drink out of a big girl cup. But she loved it, and we didn't let her have any beer, so I think we're not such bad parents.

So for the moment, that is what is new with us. Please leave a comment, and let us know what you think of our new mode of communication!