Favorite Moments From This Week

Beach Time

We went to the beach!  A lot!  I have a friend who is originally from Florida and she has taught me how to make going to the beach less of a hassle than I thought it would be.  We had a blast!  N really took to walking in the water and loves to feel the sand.  On the second day she slept through half of our time there, but that was fine.  It was still an amazingly relaxing day.

 

 

Memorial Day

Monday was a "chill out" day for us.  Our beach days wore us out, plus Mama had to do some serious laundry.  We had some good outside time though.  N is exploring more and more and getting more comfortable walking on the uneven grass.  She cracked me up when she pushed the mower up our little hill and plopped down for a little break.  



Big News!

N said her first serious words!  She repeated "Pop! Pop! Pop!" after I read it from a book.  She also says "Mama" definitively.  But the cutest thing is when she takes any object and holds it up to her ear, like a phone, and says "Hi" in this soft voice.  I LOVE it!   

April

 We decided to sign N up for "Mommy and Me" swim lessons.  I stood in line, with a number, for two hours to get us in.  That is life on a base where one in five women is pregnant, which means there are an abundance of babies all of the time.  We met for eight sessions.  The first day was chilly and every child cried the entire thirty minutes.  But, by the end, N was doing a great job of letting me float her on her back--she'd whine, but she'd do it.  We have lots of water time in our future, so it was tons of fun.

 It was warm enough for a beach day!  Yay!  We joined a couple of friends for some fun in the sand.  Yes she put the sand in her mouth.  Such is life.

 Easter egg hunt at church.  We didn't really hunt, but N had fun playing with them ahead of time.

 Wonder what she is thinking here?

 We got a little pool for N.  She wasn't too sure what to do with it.  Thankfully bath toys helped her at least enjoy it.

 I love this toy.  I also love that N figured out how to empty it quickly and efficiently. 

  A friend hosted a painting and wine class.  It's been forever since I have picked-up a brush.  Such fun!  This hangs in N's room now.

  Daddy made N a blanket tent.  I'm sure it is the first of many.

Checking out Daddy's boots. 

This is a quick round-up of the month.  I have some great shots of Easter weekend that I hope to share later.

March

 We set-up a system for baby-proofing our sliding doors so they can stay open, but N won't tear through them.  The tension rod works great and seems to be a ballet bar for N much of the time. 

 My favorite Saturday mornings are when we sleep in a little and there is time to enjoy our coffee. 

 Occasionally N goes on a sleep-strike and won't go to bed.  We try to be stern, but right now that's difficult when that little grin shows itself.

 I wondered how long it would take her to try to crawl under our dresser.  Surprisingly it took quite awhile.  She made it all the way through with the goal of reaching the door-stop. 

 I fully blame this activity cube for initiating N's desire to pull herself up and then to begin cruising.  It was the first thing she used to pull herself up the day after Christmas.  Stinker.

 This is just a favorite picture of mine.  Love these two!  Love chilled out Saturday mornings.

 We had a date night!  We checked out Koukosai Street in downtown Naha.  We've been there before, but never for dinner or drinks.  We chose a "hole-in-the-wall" soba shop--it was delicious!  You know you've hit a local spot when they don't have English menus and the cook walks outside to the display for you to point to your choice.  After dinner we checked out the above café and bar.  Again, delightful!

 Figuring out how to handle bouncy houses.  She's a quick learner.

 The Zoo!  N loved it.  It's a small zoo, but totally worth 500 yen and a couple hours of fun.  The petting area was N's favorite.  We were a little scared for the lives of the chicks.  She kept bringing them up to her mouth. 

 We had a really warm day and so we took our borrowed turtle out for a stroll.  N had mastered pushing it around the house.  The outside terrain was different, but she had fun.  Her Daddy has taught her to eat dandelions--fantastic. 

 She played under this table for thirty minutes.  Awesome!

Can we go outside?

 

I am no longer young.  I earned this number while playing sand volleyball on a girls day at White Beach.  First of all, ouch.  Secondly, when I went to serve overhand I realized that I hadn't coached in ten years and my muscle memory was gone.  I made it over every time, but man, it took some warming up!

February: Baby-Proofing

February was spent recovering from our trip back to the states.  They say it takes about a day for every hour difference you travel.  I believe it.  We finally got back on track, for the most part, but it took lots of time. 

February also meant doing some baby-proofing for our cruisin' girl.  N took off and was QUICK to get around the kitchen using the cabinets as support.  I really couldn't believe how fast she became in such a short amount of time.  She continually tried new foods every week.  Corn and cooked carrots were a favorite. 

February in Okinawa is bi-polar weather-wise.  We had some gorgeous days where we tried out her swing on our porch--she wasn't a fan.  We also had some chilly, rainy days where we just hung out indoors. 

Military Family vs. "Regular" Family

To begin, N and I were blessed to be able to go back to the states to visit family in January.  Long story short, we flew with Jason on our way there and then we traveled back just the two of us due to his work schedule.  We flew Space-Available (Space-A), which is essentially a military version of flying stand-by based on your category.  The higher the category, the more likely you are to be chosen for a flight.  There are good and bad times to try to fly Space-A.  We chose a good time.  :) 

The states were great--COLD--but great.  Iowa proved to be fantastic with lot of family.  We wish we could have seen more, but visiting while the school year is in session doesn't work so well for a family full of teachers.  I'm grateful so many were able to come see us at all. 

We got a couple of wonderful pictures in, including four-generation pictures taken on both sides of the family.  It's pretty amazing for N to have great-grandparents still alive and I'm again, so thankful, we were able to bring her to meet them.

My sister escaped the Wisconsin cold for our balmy weather (ha!) to meet N.  We got a great shot of N sitting next to her cousin, due in August!  Aunt Kelly also sang "What does the fox say?" about 100 times to N.  If you know my sister, you know this was hilarious!

It was said to leave, but twenty days is a long time to be away from your home and routine, especially for an infant.  N handled it like a champ, but I won't be putting her through all of that again any time soon.

Which brings me to my military family.  On the way to the states and back we HAD to stop in Hawaii.  Bummer, right?  I have two friends from our Biloxi days who are stationed there and I got to catch up with them a bit.  One of them, Sarah, actually turned into our chauffeur on very short notice.  She even brought us food at our lodging.  I was/am forever grateful for her friendship and kindness.

Jeanne met us at lodging to visit that night, but then she came and hung out with us at the airport the next day for a least two hours.  Not only was it nice to have someone to talk with, but I was able to use the restroom!  Traveling alone with an infant suddenly means simple things like using the restroom are no longer simple.  Enough said. 

I was struck by how wonderful it is to have friends who are your family away from home.  There are very few people who you can Facebook message or call on a moments notice who will drive you around, bring you food, or lend you an umbrella stroller. Never underestimate your military family.