Trial; Also: is it the weekend yet?

I've been sneaking teeny bites of vanilla yogurt to Claire. Don't worry: no one's been looking, and therefore she's kept it down. I think it's like the dieting thing. If no one sees you eat that hot fudge brownie sundae with whipped cream and 2 cherries (what?), no actual calories are consumed and therefore you do not gain any weight. So, it's been Claire's and my little secret. Anyway, she keeps grabbing for my fork of citrus chicken, or trying to divert my peppermint pattie-laden hands to her mouth. I am certain that she is not supposed to eat poultry or chocolate at this point, so I opted for carrots this afternoon instead. It's been an hour. She is sleeping, so either when I hear her wake up she will be lying in a puddle of orange guck, or she'll be happy as a clam and arching her eyebrow at me as if to say, "Why haven't you given me more of that good solid food yet?" My response will be, of course: because.

Are there anymore carrots in here?

Jen & Claire.

Claire, Tim & Kate after breakfast.

Today is the birthday of the Air Force. Personally? Woo-hoo. But, to celebrate, we went to breakfast together this morning on base. As in before swim lessons. Before 7am. Before any of us were truly awake. Dear God I am tired. It's been a long week, especially since neither Tim nor I had a weekend last week. Right now both of the girls are sleeping. And what am I doing? Blogging. I have a serious problem, folks.

I did it!

I've been debating cutting my hair for a long time. Cutting my hair, not just trimming. I don't know why; I've just wanted to try short hair. So here I am! I dropped Kate off at daycare, and took McLaren with me. I thought for sure when I went to pick Kate up she would have some kind of ... reaction ... but no. Nothing. She just ran to me to give me a big hug. "Mommy!" Claire, I'm not sure about. I think she is skeptical, but I at least still sound the same, so I think she's accepting me. My husband, I'm not so sure about. I like it, though. That could change when I have to do it myself. My hairstylist can make any cut look good in the shop. Me? I'm not that patient or talented. I hope I haven't ruined my hair.

We're all starting to feel better. There's still a lot more snot around here than I like, but we're on the mend.

Yesterday Kate fell in the pool. I was already in, and close-by. She was reaching for something in the pool, and suddenly: splash! She kind of tumbled in, and bit her tongue and (I just realized this afternoon) also scraped her chin on the way in. But I was really calm. I think it helped that I was right there in the water already, in case she needed help. She floated to the top in no time and righted herself on her back. After some coaxing from me, she flipped over and grabbed my hand, just like in swim lessons. Awesome. That is why we are going through the pain of swim lessons. Way to go, Kate!

My friend Amie commented the other day that she envied me a little on the family front. I understand her thoughts, but just wanted to give a glimpse into my daily life:

Tim got home on Tuesday. Then he had to work late last night, so it was just the girls and me for dinner again. This is not meant to tell you that Tim is an absentee father; it was just pretty much mealtime standard.

Imagine a rectangular, glass-topped table. I sit at the head of the table so as best to see and attend to both girls. Kate is to my left in her booster seat. Claire is in the highchair on my right. Kate eats a few bites of food with her utensil, and then tilts her head to the side cutely and wipes her garlic pasta-covered little fingers across the table, stopping momentarily to admire her work. She then stuffs pasta into her mouth, forgoing the nice fork I have provided for her.

Claire nonchalantly drops her plastic cup off the side of her tray and then looks at me sideways as if to say, "gonna pick that up for me, lady?". She sucks her thumb noisily, eyeing my bread, and converses with her sister:

Claire: Mmmma!
Kate: ABC, weeeee ah way home, icky pea! Icky pea! Icky pea! UH-OH. Icky pea! Mommy beee (big) hug. More dip, Mommy! More dip more dip more dip! (shoving bits of olive oil-covered bread across the table at me) UH-OH. (bread dropped on floor) Ice keem cone! Ice keem cone! Aaah done, Mommy, aaah done. Git dow! Git dow! Aah done!
Claire: Aah Mmmma! Mamamamamama! (banging cups)

Tim arrived home right as the girls were settling down to bed (post dinner, post clean up, post bath, post teeth brushing, post story time, post whining about not wanting to go to bed, post endless runny noses...). They were so happy to see him, and quieted right down after he tucked them in. How do you like that?

Codes, codes for eberyone

Sick. We are all sick. All of us who are here, that is. Kate got it first, and gave it to Claire, who then shared it with me. Damn daycare. Now, of course, I'm feeling really bad about getting so very frustrated with Kate over the weekend; she was just feeling ucky and now I know why she was whiny. I want to whine right now, too.

I feel worst for Claire, because she's a baby and can't even pretend to blow her nose. So nostril sucker thingy it is, accompanied by nose drops. She hates it, and I hate doing it to her, but it's worse to let her cry and get so congested that she starts to gag.

The nights are long. None of us are sleeping well, and every time one of the girls wakes up, so do I. Our throats itch and are sore, and the coughing is hard to sleep through. My head is pounding, and the tantrums Kate works herself into are making me a little crazy. Not thoroughly crazy, because I've been able to head most of them off today, but I've got my tickets to crazytown in my hand just in case.

I thought I'd have my husband back to help out tonight, but it seems that this will not happen. Of course. His jet's still broken. Severe thunderstorms are in the forecast for tomorrow morning when he is (currently) scheduled to leave, and I am hoping to have him home by Wednesday. Until then, I'll be chugging Nyquil vodka OJ in an effort to get rid of this bug.

2-0

That's our record for the season so far. Two and ze-ro. As in, no losses! I am shocked, mostly because the game today was against #22 Boise State, and well, because our past few seasons have been horribly painful. Next week's game is against Ohio State, followed by UCLA and USC at the end of the month. They've said Washington has the toughest schedule in the country, and I believe it.

Today Kate talked to her daddy on the phone: "Daddy come home soon?" That was her first question. Kinda breaks your heart.

Me, I'm sitting here eating a vanilla sundae with Sander's hot fudge, because: yum! I'm debating whether I'm going to sit down and watch my movie: The Lake House. Seen it? Is it worth it? Bah, I'll probably do it, just so I don't have it sitting here for the next month. But, not before I post some pictures!

The avocado attacked me, Ma.

Claire's "I'm tired" pose.

So big!

So tired, but still so big!

Happy at dinner.

Thank heaven for baby medicine

That's right, I drugged my daughters and they are now both sleeping peacefully. Last night: not so much. And today I figured out why at least one of them was crabby: McLaren has another new tooth. Yes, another one. The second one this week. The new one is her upper left front tooth (my sister could tell you the name and number, but I'll just call it what everyone knows: the upper front tooth). After finding the tooth poking through this morning, I am impressed that she slept at all last night, or this past week for that matter.

Kate is still all congested and snotty-nosed, and cough-y on top of that. Now, after some toddler's Dimetapp, she is sleeping soundly! I have high hopes that this will allow me some continuous sleep tonight, as well. Because last night sucked, I tell you.

Tim is cross-country. For you non-flyer types: he flew a jet out to some big to-do function on the east coast. Except that he broke in San Antonio tonight, and will probably not be going to his destination, but will still hopefully be home early next week as planned. As for me, I'm not using my time wisely. I had the computer on from earlier today, and I've been sitting here, reading blogs and such for nearly 2 hours. I could have been reading Harry Potter. Or cleaning up around here for once, or watching the chick flick I got just for this weekend, or sleeping for God's sake! But I've been unproductively surfing the internet. Addict. I'm an addict.

Tomorrow I plan to be firmly planted in front of the TV, watching the Michigan-Oregon game, and willing the network to switch mid-game to what is sure to be a much more interesting match: Washington vs Boise State.

The downside of daycare, er, pre-school, and an update on McLaren

I think Kate is getting a cold. She is supposed to be napping, but I keep hearing coughing. Then I have to run in and check to make sure she isn't throwing up, because she's making that horrible "cough like I'm going to vomit" cough.

Claire's upper GI appointment was this morning. We arrived slightly after 8am, and waited 45 minutes to get called back. I hate that! I mean, it had to be like the first appointment of the day, and she's a baby! Don't keep the babies waiting, folks. They get crabby. Claire did really well, though. She was starving, and drank enough of the barium to allow them to perform the test. I only cried once, which I thought was pretty good, considering they had to strap her to a padded board, head strapped down as well, and rotate her little body around so they could x-ray her. That part only took about 10 minutes, and the rest was more of a wait wait wait exercise. After the rotating x-rays, they took lie-down x-rays about every 20 minutes for a little more than 2 hours, to see how the barium was passing through her system. The doctor who analyzed the results said that she did not see anything abnormal, and that that ruled out all sorts of 'bad things'. I'm not sure what those bad things are, exactly, but since they don't apply to McLaren, I'm not bothering to find out. So, the end result is pretty much where we started: they don't know what is causing her to vomit after eating solids. I did give her avocado in the mesh bag the other night, and just like the banana, she kept it down. I'm sort of afraid of what the next round of tests are going to be; I'm pretty sure they will be much more invasive than the one this morning, so I'll be trying to figure out if we should just wait another month to see if she passes through this phase, or if we should keep going with the tests.

Crack, teeth and family time

We didn't turn the computer on yesterday. When is the last time you did that? I spent very little time surfing the internet over the weekend, and then just decided to (gah!) not turn the computer on yesterday. I think the internet is sort of like crack for me. I turn the desktop on in the morning, and it hums at me, beckoning. Well, I tried to go a day without it, and I survived! It was quite nice, actually. No headlines to stories that won't get read, no random blog reading (of course, this means I have lots of blogs to catch up on today), no wasted time reading movie reviews of flicks I'll never see, no flipping through emails that I need to respond to. Instead, we swam, watched college football, played with the girls, worked on Claire's walking skills (I know, she's not even crawling yet), cleaned house, and got a lot of stuff done.

Claire has her first tooth! I noticed it on Saturday; it's her bottom front right one. And the left one next to it is just about to break the skin, too. And, while she was doing her silly snorty-nose thing this morning, I saw what I think are the top two (2!) teeth just under the surface. I have no idea how she is sleeping through the night, what with all those teeth just about ready to pop out.

For those interested in the follow-up to the banana story from last week, here it is: she kept it all down! Then yesterday I gave her some avocado, and it stayed down too. She didn't have much of those foods, so I'm still taking her in on Thursday for her upper-GI scan, but I'm hopeful that she's fine and will stop barfing at the sight of solid food soon. Maybe she just doesn't like rice cereal. And who can blame her? That stuff looks gross.

Kate started pre-school today. Really it's just daycare, but I feel better calling it pre-school. I'm a stay-at-home mom (who is never home) and now I'm farming my eldest daughter out to daycare pre-school twice a week for 3-4 hours. She had fun today, playing with other kids and other toys. I think she gets bored here. She is now trying to get Claire to play with her, which is so cute, but so sad since Claire just has no clue how to play yet.

I didn't get a lot of stuff done while she was gone; Claire had swim lessons and I had to get on the internet and make sure it was still there. But I'm hopeful for tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll get more stuff done.

What was I thinking?

I gave McLaren some banana tonight. I was making dinner, and Kate was ... being Kate, and I was tired and hungry and I thought, hmmm, how about some banana? Yes, it was in a mesh bag. But hello! bananas don't have juice! They are just pulp! They are just solid! And we all know how she does with solids. I fed it to her at 6pm. It's now 7:40pm, and I figure I have about 20 minutes before the barfing begins. I just now checked on her, and there is no vomit. Can you feel the tension?

For those just joining us, Claire has some trouble with solids. She started out just fine. She downed a whole box of oatmeal cereal and a whole box of rice cereal. Not in one sitting, c'mon. But over the course of what, about 6 weeks maybe, she ate like a champ. Then one night, she ate peas (after successfully having eaten them before) and she woke up with her head completely encrusted in them. Pretty much ever since then she has been unable to keep solids down for more than 2.5 hours. Seriously.

We've done 2 ultrasounds on her abdomen. The first one showed fat in her liver. I chalk that up to Dion the wonder tech. As a result of his ineptitude, Claire had to have blood work done to make sure her liver was okay. It is fine, one giant arm bruise later. The second one came back normal. No problems. No pyloric stenosis. No nothing. Next we are trying some sort of upper GI thing where she has to drink some fluid as they probably x-ray the crap out of her. Joy.

I'm sort of tempted to just wait a month and see if she can eat solids when she's 8 months old. I just don't know that all these tests are worth the heartache and pain that both McLaren and I will go through. Also, the tests are so expensive. Crazy expensive. Her lab work last week? That drawing of blood billed $180, of which TriCare paid $27 (I mean, really, it's a vial of blood). The ultrasound cost $762. Good God. When Kate had her UTI, they wanted to do all sorts of tests on her, too. Turns out she is normal, but I feel like we put her through hell to find out. Is it silly to want to wait this out? I mean, it does seem like something is not right. She used to be able to eat solids, and now she cannot. But she is certainly gaining weight, so I don't know that we have a really big problem right now.

7mo of chub. Is it Claire or Kate?

5mo of that same kind of chub... who is this?

*** 9:30pm update ***

Claire is sleeping like a baby! There is no puddle of banana goo under her chubby little face! I don't know that I'm in the clear yet, but it's been 3.5 hours!

Nothing Says Romance Like...

From Tim: Well, it's my turn to Blog again, and that usually means something dramatic is going on. It is 9:40 pm on our Anniversary Date Night and I am blogging instead of sipping wine and eating steak across the table from my blushing bride... so what happened?

Where do I start? We had plans for Sushi and a movie on Saturday, but the big dinner reservations were for Flemings (http://www.flemingssteakhouse.com/) on Sunday.


On Saturday we had a fun day at home and a repeat of last year's experience where our babysitter fell out by accidentally scheduling two families on the same day. Luckily Dexter came through for us and we were able to go out as planned. Just before we ran out the door we opened our gifts to each other, and they were both the same thing!



Today (Sunday) all we had to do was hang out at home, do some chores, run some errands, get dressed up, leave the kids with a sitter and go out to celebrate. The chores in the yard ended with pool time, since it was a bit muggy, and Kate was swimming like a champ. For some reason she liked Mommy more than Daddy, and at one point grabbed onto the side of the pool and went from one end to the other to be close to mommy. Then she said "Hi Edge.", "Bye, Bye Edge" and swam out to the middle of the pool to Jen.








At lunch Kate was getting cranky and started to complain about her leg, which she seemed to have hurt while playing in her room. When she woke up, not only did the leg still hurt, but now she had a fever too. Our little bundle of energy quickly became a couch potato, and the fever continued to rise.





Anyone who knows Kate would expect something was wrong seeing her sit quietly in one place for more than 2 minutes!

So, our dinner plans evaporated with the rising temperature of our first-born and we cancelled the sitter and the reservations. I fired up the grill, and Kate watched most of our DVR collection of Wallace and Grommit, Clifford the Dog, Veggie Tales and Blue's Clues without moving an inch.

We managed to pull off a dinner of Steak and peas, with a bottle of Oregon wine we imported on our last trip while consoling the distraught toddler.


Not the night we had planned, but Happy Anniversary Darling.

How did you meet?

The newly-engaged couple: Superman and Wonder Woman. October 2000.

Sailing in the San Juan islands, summer 2000.

It was the fall of 1993. I was a junior at the University of Washington, and Tim was a senior at Oregon State University. I was just transitioning out of AFROTC, and Tim was getting ready to complete his last year of it before he headed off to nav school. Several of my friends talked me into getting involved in Silver Wings, the civilian component of Arnold Air Society, and we all headed down to Portland, Oregon, for ARCON (a meeting of all the AAS groups from the NW area schools). Tim was the public affairs officer for his AAS group, and I was heading up Silver Wings for the region. His job was to take pictures, and he managed to make sure I was in most of them. I was pretty flattered, and freely gave him my new email address I had at UW. We didn't talk much that weekend (even then there was a rivalry between UW and OSU), but I soon started receiving emails from that PA officer at Oregon State. My boyfriend was pretty ticked, but flirting over email was so fun.

The following spring was NATCON, a gathering of all the AAS groups around the country, and several of my friends and I headed to Scottsdale for a long weekend of riotous drinking, staying up until 5am, and roof-stomping a Colonel or two who had accompanied us to the convention. Tim was supposed to be there, too, and I spent the first night looking for him. Something about too much to drink and singing Take Me Home, Country Roads, and I couldn't find him. I did finally meet up with him the next day, and we spent a lot of time talking in person. I wish I remembered more of that weekend, but there was a bit of alcohol involved and it was 14 years ago.

We spent the next several years keeping in touch via email and the occasional phone call, with him moving to Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Idaho (in 1998 when we finally dated for the first time), back to Texas for pilot training and then to Arizona for the B course. I mostly stayed put in Seattle, with a short move to London in 95-96, and enjoyed my stable life. I loved Seattle and was pretty sure I wasn't going to love, say, Goldsboro or Wichita Falls, as much as I enjoyed the Emerald City. So, we kept talking, and finally in the summer of 2000, I flew down to Tucson to embark on a backpacking trip to the Havasupai Indian Reservation in the Grand Canyon with some friends. I stayed with Tim for a couple of days before we left for our trip, and that started me thinking. After some good reflection time in the Grand Canyon, I went back to see Tim again in Tucson for a couple of days before heading back to Seattle. He drove us back to his quarters, where he had a bottle of wine, all sorts of yummy bubble baths and lotions, and a nice dinner. I had never been so happy to take a shower, and while I was soaping all the dirt and grime off of me, it suddenly dawned on me that I had the most fabulous man in my life and what on earth was I thinking not doing something about it? We started dating then, got engaged like 6 weeks later, and here we are. Happy Anniversary, Tim!

***

Okay. I know I have readers out there. You know who you are. Leave a comment and tell me how you met your spouse! I'm talking to you, Dad, Grandma, Jessica, Cheri, Carrie, and all others who are reading this right now! I want comments!

Toddler for sale

Okay, before you call CPS and/or hit the comment button to post a bid, know that I am (mostly) kidding. In general, Kate is one of the best 3 things that has happened to me. But this week she has come into her terrible twos with a vengeance that even I was not prepared for. She is hitting, kicking, screaming, and throwing herself on the floor in full-up tantrum mode that only a toddler can achieve. The other night, she cried so hard she made herself sick, literally. She got a bath and I got to clean up chunks of dinner. Normally I just ignore the tantrums if we are at home, but with her ability to cry so hard that she actually throws up, I am forced to double-think that method of tolerance. If I let her cry too hard, I'm afraid of what the result will be. I am thankful that she is not biting, and pray that no one mentions this out loud near her lest she get any ideas.

Mostly, I cannot understand what she is crying about. She is crying so hard and screaming and I just can't understand what she is trying to say. I know this is frustrating for both of us. I think the past 2-3 episodes have involved clothing: she either wants to wear something or does not, and I want/need her to do the converse of what she wants. For instance, I won't let her go to bed without pants on, because she'll take her diaper off, and that's just too much. I cannot figure out a solution. Ideas?

On the other hand, Claire is at my favorite age. She is able to sit up (mostly) unassisted, she can't move besides rolling from her back to her tummy, she coos and dissolves into a fit of screamy giggles when you snort on her neck or belly, she grabs her toes and chews on them, she throws one arm across her eyes and puts her other thumb in her mouth when she's tired, and the only things she can say are 'Maaa!' and 'Aaaaah!'

Now, I don't not love Kate (for those who don't like quadruple negatives, this translates to: I love Kate dearly), don't get me wrong. I'm just near wit's end trying to sort out how to handle her. Until then, I'll just enjoy her nap time, and hope that this stage passes. Fast.

Question

Do you double-wash the toddler vomit-soaked clothes/changing pad cover/carpet, or just burn it all?

Who are you, and what have you done with my daughter?

As you know, Kate started swim lessons in May. She hated them. Passionately. I thought we were doomed to have a daughter who disliked the pool immensely. After a month off, we're back at 'em, and she's a totally new girl in the water.



To compare, here's a lesson from June.

Eww, eww

A few days ago, I had the brilliant idea to start bribing Kate with candy to get her to use the potty. She has a crush on M&Ms, so I bought a package of the dark yummies that were on sale at Target. I also bought a bag of Reese's peanut butter cups, because they sounded oh-so-good. I just opened one foil-wrapped candy, thinking what strange light was filtering through my windows that made the wrapper look yellow-ish. The candy inside was a bit gooey, and stuck to the paper cup, and I thought I smelled the sickly sweet scent of bananas. Dying for some peanut butter and chocolate, I ignored both of these warning signs, and popped the gooey mess into my mouth (as good as you can 'pop' a melty chocolate glob). No sooner had I done so when I had the sinking realization that that crazy banana smell was not a figment of my imagination: there truly was banana in my Reese's peanut butter cup. ICK. There is not much that I dislike more than banana-flavored things. Gross, gross, gross. I just downed a (small) fistful of Kate's dark M&Ms to try to get the taste out of my mouth, but it's still there, taunting me.

The house is so quiet. Everyone is asleep. Claire has been sleeping for almost 3 hours now. She likes to flip over onto her belly and suck her thumb to sleep now, and I guess it's doing the trick.

Claire is cracking me up now. She yells (YELLS) when she wants attention, or when she is tired. I found out the latter today at the commissary when I took too long to shop. She was very vocal about her feelings.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to keep up with the constantly changing baby clothes? I feel like every other week I'm pulling clothes out of the girls' drawers because they don't fit anymore. Then I come across some cute little outfit that will just barely fit for a week before it's too small. Organization tips? What do you do to stay organized with your kids' stuff?

Trying to fit in

Well, Claire wouldn't feel like one of our daughters if she didn't need to have some extra medical exams. We haven't had to visit the ER with her yet (do I even dare say that?), but her pediatrician called me this afternoon to let me know that she wants more tests done on Claire to find out what is causing her to get sick when she eats solids.

First, the ultrasound. We went to TMC for what was supposed to be a short ultrasound of Claire's tummy. What I got was everything from a lecture on how I should be breastfeeding my baby ("not that I'm trying to tell you what to do, and I'm not a doctor, but you know, it worked for my 2 kids"), to the tech telling me that he wasn't really sure what test he was supposed to be performing (at which point he sighed heavily and left the room to call the doctor's office to check). There was a lot of sighing from him over the next 45 minutes while he tried to scan her stomach, as she became increasingly impatient and tired. By the end, she was crying and cranky and we still did not have a good read on her stomach.

So, the pediatrician called me this afternoon to tell me that the results were a little odd and that we need to have some bloodwork done to rule out some problems with her liver. We also need to repeat the ultrasound to see if we can get some better results. For now she is fine with liquids (and she is obviously gaining weight), so we'll wait and see what the tests say.

The Ultrasonic Vomit Sprinkler

As the husband and "old guy" of the family I rarely get to comment on the blog. My reactions are reserved for concern for my wife's well-being and bodily functions of children. Today I have the privilege of recounting the latter.

As you may have read, we had a few hectic times this weekend. Most notably me getting to bail from a pool party in order to work on a Saturday. Leaving a single parent with two kids inside the fence line of a 5-foot deep pool is a little heartless, I know, especially since Jen needed her energy for what was to follow.

Claire has been having a little trouble keeping solid food down lately. After a month of cereal she decided that she would have none of it. During our time in Oregon we discovered her new hobby of dousing the room some 3 hours after her last meal. Being the caring young parents we had the doctor check her and true-to-form the doc recommended some tests--Ultrasound to be exact.

So I figured it was probably "just a phase" or something in the water in Oregon and figured we should try to feed her again... but just a little ... just in case. My co-conspirator mixed a quick meal and Claire downed a whopping 3 bites from a baby spoon or about the content of a thimble. Two concerned parents looked on, awaiting the arrival of Linda Blair but Claire seemed fine. Later she had a bit of a nap and woke up happy and playful.

In the meantime, Jen and I pressed with the plan of re-arranging the furniture to put Kate and Claire in the same room. Kate latched onto her music box that puts her to sleep at night and started walking around the house with it. She set the music box on the coffee table and would hit the button to start the music, and hit the button to stop the music... like you do when you are a toddler and seeking to prove you have power over something.

In came Claire to sit with Daddy and Kate. Daddy decided Claire could hold herself up at the table and watch. Kate decided she could show Claire how the music box worked. Kate, one at a time, would grab one of Claire's hands and hit the button thereby starting and stopping the music. Both kids enjoyed this tremendously and were laughing and smiling in a concerted effort to get Daddy's guard down. Claire sits down on my left knee and I have Kate sit down on my right knee to have a group hug... mommy is getting the camera, but is too slow.

From out of the blue, the adorable child on my knee begins to projectile vomit everywhere... I mean everywhere... her range was really quite remarkable - and the aim too. On Dad, on big sister, on the carpet... down Dad's leg and into both shoes... and after a few second a pause. I had just enough time to mutter comforting words to the toddler (covered in puke) trying to keep her from bolting across the living room dripping vomit, when the whole thing started all over again. Bluhhhh, bluhh.. and it was the good stuff too! None of that wimpy baby-milk spit-up stuff here-- we have full-up 2 am at mardi gras in New Orleans flashbacks, both with the smell and with the pair of vomit-soaked shoes you want to burn when you get a chance.

Kate's hands are up in the air, and I'll remember the "Uhhh... Daddy what do I do?" look for years. I was waiting for the "All done ... all done..." but it never came. She stuck it out, listened to dad and did not spread yak from one end of the house to another.

It suddenly became "Bath Time" and poor little Claire spent the next few hours sleeping it off.

I can't imagine why she keeps getting sick...think it's the beer? Or maybe the pickles.

Confessions of a 30-something drama queen

Okay, okay! I'm fine, really. I know that after that last post most of you are wondering if I am doing okay in the mental department. I'm fabulous, really. It's just hard being a mom of 2 small children sometimes, you know? Anyone? Someone back me up here. Anyway, these things make for good blog stories, and so you have to take some liberties.

Like yesterday, with Claire the Sprinkler. That's a fun story. But I promised Tim the rights to that one, so you'll have to wait.

Kate surprised me last week. We were over at Dana's and she started saying her ABCs. She does this often. But this time, she kept going. I think she made it all the way through V. Since then she has done this several times (including WXYZ nowIknowABCsingwithme), so I know it's not just a fluke. She is also counting past 10, but I'm not certain where past 10. I heard 19 once, but I can't recall if I heard all the numbers between 11 and 18 first.

Claire enjoys a nice amber ale.

I don't know where to begin

My list of stuff to do is so long that I'm at a loss. So I'm blogging. Sounds like a good place to start, right?

I did get the floors cleaned yesterday, which gave me much satisfaction. That feeling of accomplishment is now gone, however, as I take inventory of every horizontal surface in the house and find them all covered in mail or clean laundry, and see that my hope of crossing more stuff off my list this weekend dwindling. We've only been home a week, right? I guess it's not that bad. But my Monica instincts are so...strong...and it's making me crazy! The disarray is truely giving me heart palpitations.

We found out that we are off the VML. We thought we'd be moving by May of next year, but the Air Force has extended us and we are now in the next VML. That likely means a move over the summer of 2008. Personally, I'm hoping for Europe. But I've been hoping for Europe since, well, 2000, when we got engaged. North Carolina, Korea and Arizona have not quenched that desire to live in Europe. I'm not picky. I'd take England. I know it's not technically Europe, but it's sort of closer to it than we are here. Or, I'd take Italy. Or Germany. Hell, I'd take Hungary. Come on, people! Send us to Europe! Please.

We went to a birthday party this afternoon. I don't have any pictures. This is because it went kind of like this:

Arrive at community pool where party is being held. Try to entertain a toddler while your husband holds the baby. Swim in the pool with the toddler because it's so damn hot out that it's miserable if you're not in the water. Second guess your idea that 2 kids in the pool would be too difficult, and feel really guilty when your baby looks really really hot. Spritz her with the spray bottle you brought and hope that cools her and her father off. Notice that it does not seem to help. Get out of the pool and try to appease the baby while your husband goes to get food for the toddler. At 5:15 when the toddler is mostly done with her meal, say good-bye to your husband who has to go home and get ready to go to work (Go Lightning Strike Force, woohoo!). Nod in agreement to all your friends who point out that it's Saturday. Try to corral the toddler who is now wandering about in a heatstroke daze, dangerously close to the pool. Also try to keep the baby cool since she never got to swim and cool off. Put the baby in the stroller, hoping that errant toddlers won't feed her red vines while you chase the toddler around the far end of the pool. Glance back at the baby and see another toddler try to take her toy from her. Watch her start to cry. Try to herd the toddler back to the other side of the pool so we can take care of the baby, and have some cake. Thank your friends profusely when they offer to hold the baby. Finally get everyone into the car to head home, where life is a lot easier.

I'm a drama queen, I know. It really wasn't that bad. But pool parties with 2 kids and 1 parent are really just not fun. Period.

My goal is to sleep in tomorrow. I know it's totally unrealistic. But you have to have goals. Tonight, my goal is to finish the bottle of Petite Syrah that is on my kitchen counter. I think I might accomplish that one.

Mmmmmmmaa!

This is Claire's first word. I'm counting it, as she says it repeatedly, and I'm certain she is referring to me. She also says 'pppppptttt' a lot, and I'm certain that does not refer to me.

Swim lessons began again Tuesday morning. Kate is finishing up and will probably be done next week, and Claire is in lessons for about 4 weeks, learning how to float on her back and to roll over onto her back. She does not like the lessons much, but is a good sport about them for the most part. I feel just terrible watching her cry and then suck in water, but I know it will be great to have her able to float.

Claire's 6mo well baby check was this morning. The doctor isn't sure what is causing the massive vomiting episodes after she eats solids, so she wants to do an ultrasound on her stomach. Sometimes the opening between the intestine and the stomach becomes too narrow to let solid food pass through. I'll keep you posted on what we find out. For now, her stats:

height: 26.25" (75th percentile)
weight: 17lbs 12oz (75th-90th percentile)

We've been back for several days and the house is a disaster. Dis-as-ter. There is nothing quite like going on vacation for 5 weeks to cause the mess that is my house. I had grand hopes of being totally unpacked, with the floors swept and the bathrooms cleaned by now. Ha. None of those things has happened yet, although I have wonderful delusions that they will come to fruition in the near future. In the meantime:

Unfortunately, my kitchen table is not the only surface that looks like this. Ugh.

Finally, we are back!

6mo.

We got back on Saturday afternoon, but our modem was fried (monsoons? lightning?) and we couldn't get online. I realized then just how very horribly addicted I am to the internet. And how much other stuff I can get done when my beloved internet is not working. Tim, luckily, is also addicted to the net, so he was on a mission to fix it. Thanks to his efforts, I am back online.


The drive back was...somewhat more painful than the ride up. It didn't help that we took the 'long' road back through Idaho and Utah. Six days later (and more than 3000 miles driven in the past 5 weeks) we are all much happier to not be sitting in a car.


We spent 2 nights in Boise, soaking up the fun and the good beer (we took the girls to 2 breweries while we were there); drove to Ogden, UT, where we stayed at Hill AFB; braved the crazy torrents of rain and flood waters south of there to arrive at Cedar City, UT, near Zion; drove through Vegas on a Friday, stopping only at In N Out Burger for lunch; spent a night in Kingman, AZ; and finally arrived home on Saturday afternoon. Overall it was a fairly uneventful trip home (minus Kate's total meltdown at McDonald's in Wickenburg on Saturday - she just did not want to go into the restaurant and threw one of the biggest fits I have ever seen when we tried to get her to sit down and eat her cheeseburger).


Our house is still standing, although the pool is quite green and so is the yard. We are still unpacking (I think this process might take a week to 10 days) and trying to get organized. Monsoon season is in full force; it took Tim 45 minutes to get to work this morning (normally a 15-minute drive), and the girls' swim lessons are cancelled today. It's dark inside even though it's almost 8am, and I can hear thunder rumbling in the distance. Time for me to go make some breakfast and get some stuff done while the house is still quiet. Pictures soon, I promise.

A trip to the park and an ice cream cone

Yesterday we took Kate and McLaren to the park one last time before we have to leave.

After walking across the bridge to the park, we saw this sign.

After many trips down the slide, Kate got to try her first ice cream cone. This experience included:

• 1 dropped ice cream cone (Tim's)
• some playing in the doggy water dish near the outside seating
• Kate sitting down at someone else's table and eating some of their food
• Kate deciding to "pet" the cement puppy statue and Tim soon realizing that it was covered in a fresh coat of paint (and now Kate was, too)

We are headed out tomorrow morning, hopefully by 6am. Ha. I can hear your collective laughs from here. Zip it; it could happen - we might leave by then.

Our first stop will be Boise, followed by Salt Lake City, Zion, Flagstaff, and finally Tucson. Y'all hold down the internet for me until we get home.

Coffee, dress-up and more berries

McLaren is her parents' daughter. Mmmm, coffee.

Dress up.

Kate played dress-up with her sister.

More berry-picking.

Yesterday was wine-tasting at Willamette Valley Vineyards, where we got married almost 6 years ago. Today is a visit to Enchanted Forest. Should be a hoot!

Barf-o-rama 2007

I have never been vomited on so many times. Claire is suddenly intolerant of all solid foods (after finishing a whole box of rice cereal, a whole box of oatmeal cereal, containers of pears and sweet potatoes and some peas at home last month). At first I thought she didn't like the new Gerber vita blocks oatmeal. But yesterday she had a couple of bites of plain sweet potatoes, and then while we were at the mall picking up our pictures, wham-o! Or, splat-o, really. I was holding her on the tile floor of the hall outside the Picture People (I am so glad we weren't inside, as I'm sure they are as well) when she got sick. Poor kid. Somehow, even after failing to keep any solids down for the past several weeks, she still doesn't have any ankles. Just chub. Cankles. Love.

Last night we had dinner at Sheila's house. Afterwards we all took a walk to the barn next door to see the sheep. I love it here! Our "walk to the barn next door" was a trek of about 1/2 mile down the gravel road past Sheila's house. We stopped to pick wild blackberries along the way. Can it get much better than that?

Kate's favorite toys: trucks.

Grosse Pointe Blank, Oregon-style

We came to Oregon for the month of July for 2 primary reasons:

1. Tim's dad's 60th birthday on the 4th, and
2. Tim's 20th high school reunion this weekend

Last night was dinner and drinks at Mac's, the local watering hole. Tonight is the formal dinner downtown at a hotel. We had fun last night. I wasn't sure how it would go; I had never met any of Tim's friends from high school, save Mary whom I met at our wedding. Tim's sister, Buji, who graduated 2 years behind Tim, also was there last night, so that meant I knew a grand total of 3 people. But as I sat thinking about it over blueberry pancakes this morning, I realized why I felt (and apparently) looked so much more comfortable amongst all the spouses: I have done this before. I have done this many times before. The military does it to you all the time: you go to events where your husband knows a lot of people and you know no one. So there I was, trying to talk to these wives of guys Tim had gone to school with, and they're giving me the "I don't know you and I don't want to be here so I'm not going to make eye contact with you" look. Thanks to Mary, Buji, Tim and a couple of other people there who were not afraid to talk to someone they didn't know, I had a pretty good time. Also, it was a night out at a bar with good beer, and my kids were at home with grandma and grandpa. I could have stayed out all night. Well, not really; I was yawning by 10pm, but that's beside the point.

So last night was fun, and tonight will be...well, I don't know. I kind of hope not all the fun was had last night. We shall see. In any event, I hope no one has to kill a blonde guy with a ball point pen.

Berries, berries

We went berry picking a few days ago at one of the local farms, and Kate got to pick (read: eat) berries off the bushes. She loved the blueberries. Then we moved on to the raspberries and she loved those, too, until she picked and ate an overripe one. That one ended up in stains all down the front of her shirt.

Tim arrives today, back for more vacation after 10 days of work in Arizona. He'll be happy to rest and spend time with the girls; he spent the past week and a half studying for an ACSC test that he took on Tuesday. Nothing like 51 hours of studying in 7 days. See you soon, Tim!

Bringin' the heat

It was fun for the first minute. Then: tears.

Hot. It's hot here. Yesterday I walked outside and I thought I was in Arizona. It was 104* and dry. I was fairly certain that it was warmer here than at home, and after a quick call to Dana, I found out that I was right. Whew, triple digits makes for some hot days. I had forgotten how difficult it can be to sleep when it's hot at night and you don't have AC to cool you off. It reminded me a little of my summers visiting my grandparents in Detroit growing up. Lots of tossing and turning and trying to get the fan to blow just right to cool you off.

Mmm, blueberries.

First taste of popsicle.

McLaren got to try blueberries yesterday for the first time. She LOVED them. We put several frozen berries in a mesh bag and she chewed away for about 15 minutes, making a big mess and loving every minute of it.

Then, after dinner, Grandma gave her some popsicle "to cool her down". She loved that, too, until about 5 minutes later when she threw it all up (and then some) all over the living room carpet. No more popsicles for Claire for awhile.