He’ll just pull it out and wear it for no reason while he plays.
Category Archives: Friends & Family
I don’t wanna play outside!
Pouting.
As my friends on Facebook said when I posted this…at least he’s outside and at least he’s pouting quietly. 🙂
Here comes Diesel!
He got this out last night and has been playing with it ever since. As you see, Katie got into the middle of things. 🙂
Katie kid outfit
You gotta love baby clothes…she’s been steadily outgrowing her 9m stuff…but today she was wearing size 6m shorts and 18m shirt! I believe these were from Grannie Lin.
Water slide!!
Today we went to a friend’s birthday party (the husband of one of the mommy group moms) and they had borrowed a huge inflatable water slide. Owen just wanted to splash in the water…but eventually started going down the slide. And then we couldn’t get him off! He was SO happy! And it was great to watch!
When it was time to go, we asked him how many more times he wanted to go down the slide and he stopped and was really putting some thought into it. His answer? TEN! 🙂
Then on the way home he kept asking about the water slide and saying he wanted to go back to it. I’m sure he’ll get to go on it again since we have play dates at the house that owns it. 🙂
Waiting for a friend.
Owen had a friend coming over for a play date and this is where he wanted to sit and wait.
Then we were sitting on the beach together:
Katie’s first playgroup mishap
So we were all outside at playgroup. Of course Katie didn’t want to sit still in my lap so I just let her go. At first she was content to just sit there.
But then she was OFF LIKE A SHOT and was obviously THRILLED to be free and had a ball zipping around, through the gardens, over obstacles, always looking back at me and giggling. See her?
All the boys had bats and were hitting balls off tees. We had to turn them around a few times so they weren’t hitting them toward Katie. Then another mom grabbed Katie from under the trampoline so I took her.
Just then, one of the little boys tried to hand me a ball and asked if I’d play catch with him. I said “How about I toss you the ball and you can hit it?” Of course not expecting my throw to be anywhere good enough OR for him to hit it like a major leaguer. Yep—CRACK!!—direct line drive to Katie’s head (in my arms). It was a plastic ball so obviously not life-threatening, but still obviously a painful shock.
I wasn’t mad or anything—I mean, it was totally my fault—but who thinks a 4yo could hit like that?! The kid’s mom felt awful. She said “I should have warned you he can really hit.” And he was so cute. He came up and said “I kept my eye on the ball!” I said “Yes, you did, and you did a good job. It was my fault. You’re not in trouble.”
She was totally fine and didn’t cry for too long…and just developed a big round red welt after a bit.
Our new family portrait!
So back in February, a friend of ours posted about this really cool family portrait he had commissioned by KateWhitmoreArt on Etsy. Everyone RAVED over it and said they would love one…including me. And then a few months later, I finally said YES, I’M DOING IT! But it was going to be a pre-deployment surprise for Tom.
I worked with her for about six weeks before we had a final product—sending ideas, evaluating sketches, changing details, etc.—and I managed to keep it a secret up until the very end, when I needed his input on something (though, honestly, I could have decided on my own—but you know how I am about surprises and the final reveal would only be a day or so away anyway).
And I have to say that for someone who doesn’t get choked up too easily…I think Tom was actually a bit choked up. 🙂
In it, you will notice all the small details of our family that I gave her to make it perfect…
- Owen driving his police car.
- Me taking a photo of Owen with my iPhone.
- A replica of our favorite Troy playground/park in the background.
- Tom wearing an MSU shirt.
- Katie wearing pink and grabbing my hair. The artist did the hair-grabbing thing on her own. I did NOT provide that detail.
- Owen is wearing blue.
- All pets are accounted for—and Charlie even has the nose dot.
- Owen’s drink is his actual cup.
- We have USMC Tervis tumblers. (I wasn’t expecting them to have a visible design, but I can tell they are the USMC one that I sent her the sample photo of.)
- Our exact diaper bag is under the table.
It turned out more perfect than I could have imagined. But, it did take a bit to get there. Here’s the first draft, when she was trying a Christmas theme (I told her we loved Christmas):
She sent it with this:
I thought it was a little too ‘out there’, possibly. I thought it would be cute to have you guys in the tree, surrounded by your ornaments and lights! I just felt it might be a little fun—the ornaments would have either icons/colors for your interests, the USMC, Cars, things like that, and something a little more unique than a standard portrait. Something you can’t get a photo of, you know? If you don’t feel this one, though, just let me know and I can take another crack at it!
So, while I did really like her unique take on us INSIDE a Christmas tree (I had told her we LOVED Christmas) I just wasn’t loving it enough…so I gave her the suggestion of a park or the ocean and sent a few more pics, after which she came up with this:
My thoughts were more YAY! but it wasn’t QUITE there yet. She said she didn’t do a slide (as I had suggested) because the spacing/sizing didn’t work out right. So to me it didn’t look like we were really at a park but more just having a picnic—which we haven’t really ever done. And I wasn’t sure about the kite as he’s never flown a kite so that’s just not him. I thought I might be over-thinking it but my online sounding board assured me I wasn’t…and that the artist DEFINITELY wanted clients to be happy. So I asked her to put Owen in his power wheels police car, have me taking a picture with my iPhone, have our actual sippy cup/Tervis tumblers on the table instead of a pitcher of lemonade, and change the picnic basket to the diaper bag (a long story, but it took trying/buying/returning about 15 bags before I settled on that one, so it’s kind of a running joke).
She was fine with all the changes and then sent this, which was IT.
Then came the color version and it was almost perfect. Bonus points if you can see what the last missing detail was.
Highlight this text to see what it was: The white S on Tom’s shirt.
So overall I’m absolutely and completely THRILLED. I’ve already ordered artwork for our walls (I had bought a Groupon ages ago unsure of what I would use it for…and I’m glad I saved it for this) and I’ll just say that I’m sure this will turn into Christmas presents… 🙂
Before & After
So we’ve been wanting to get this chair redone every since Tom’s mom handed it down to us in 2003 (when we got our first house)…and we finally did it. The boyfriend of someone in my mom’s group does reupholstery and it wasn’t nearly as expensive as we’d always thought (though it was still a chunk of change). It’s not perfect—if you look close you can see he used white (?!?!?) thread—but it’s not super obvious from a normal viewing distance. We also lucked out on the fabric—upholstery fabric is notoriously pricey, but we got it from a $7.99 store. YAY!
BEFORE
AFTER
FABRIC CLOSEUP
Katie’s new diagnosis
Well the pediatrician says impetigo or herpes so she’s being treated for both. It’s still contagious, but not as bad as molluscum.
That said, I texted my sister the diagnosis (and of course I didn’t get her text until I left the office) and she said “It’s not herpes if it’s on her finger, too.” Hoo boy. So now I’m leery if these docs don’t even know something that seems basic… But I guess we’re covered either way with the meds (one twice a day for seven days and one five times a day for 10 days).
We were also referred to an ophthalmologist since it’s by her eye so that’s this afternoon.
—
Ugh. That was painful.
Our appointment at the eye doctor was 1:15 and as a new patient I had to be there at 1:00. Fine. We got in about 1:25 so not bad. Then it was AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER by the time the doc came in. Oh, at about an hour someone finally came in and said “He just got back from surgery, he has one quick thing to do, then he’ll be in.”
What? JUST got back? At 2? So why the hell were we scheduled for 1:15? (They didn’t say emergency surgery.) And then it still took another 30 minutes.
The pediatrician didn’t say “Good news, they squeezed you in!” so I assumed we had a normal appointment. Apparently not.
So let me just tell you HOW MUCH FUN it was with an already over-tired baby WAY beyond her nap time and an energetic 4yo cooped up in an exam room. Thank heavens Tom met me there and could help out. I may have lost my mind otherwise.
And the actual doc part? Seriously two minutes. GRRR. One squirt of dye in her eye and a quick look with a blue light to see if there were scratches. Nope, okay, use this ointment. See you in two weeks.
😐
Then Katie was out within two minutes of me starting the drive home.
Poor Katie
Ugh. Poor Katie.
Before we left, I noticed two red spots on her face by her eyes. I just thought they were random baby pimples and didn’t think much else about it.
We came home and she had another one—and the old ones weren’t gone. Another day, and she was up to five—all around her eye.
It was at this point I decided to ask my sister, Kathryn, who has professional dermatology experience. Her diagnosis was Molluscum, a type of wart. (FYI: don’t google–EEK!—though the pics are all WAY worse than what she has.)
Unfortunately, they are contagious, and can be spread on herself or to Owen (or to us). 🙁 But how do you keep a baby from touching her eyes/face/mouth? EXACTLY. YOU CAN’T.
My sis said to keep her (and Owen) very moisturized because it spreads more easily to dry skin. So I lathered her up really well last night…but then she woke up with three more around her mouth and one on her finger! Ugh. I bandaged the one on her finger but then I have to watch that she doesn’t chew the bandaid off (and swallow it). And of course it’s one of the two fingers she puts in her mouth to comfort herself. 🙁
They’ll (supposedly) eventually go away on their own but it sounds like it’s something that can stick around for a long time (like 5 years) and the best treatment is burning or freezing. 😐 Though my sis says from what I’ve said and pics I’ve sent they don’t seem to be that bad. There are other creams but Googling says they’re not very effective (and my guess is they shouldn’t be applied around a baby’s eyes).
I just hate that she has to deal with this. (Okay, I’m not kidding anyone. I hate that I have to deal with it as well.) They look awful but don’t seem to itch (fingers crossed). Though she does seem to be more cranky than she’s ever been…and I’m guessing her no-nap days are because of this somehow, too, though she does sleep all night.
We have an appointment with the pediatrician tomorrow so we can confirm. We don’t need to quarantine ourselves (you just have to take precautions) but I really want to because it just seems easier. I did cancel our playgroup date tomorrow but I’m sure we’ll be back next week depending what the doc says.
I just hope there’s something we can do…
Tonight’s Skype
Katie crawls up…
…and over Tom.
While Owen is off wandering.
The General’s Dinner
A few months ago we went to a USMC charity event called Basket Bingo and a group of us bid on—and won—a five-course dinner at the general’s house. Well, it was tonight.
Our good friends happened to be behind us coming on base—and we were quite early—so we stopped by the water to take some pictures. It was just a little windy.
Karen and Tom
The first couples to arrive.
FIRST COURSE (appetizers on the back deck)
Watermelon tequila shooters
Brie toasts with papaya salad
Chicken satay skewers with chocolate BBQ sauce
Mojitos
Our Hosts, General & Mrs. Lukeman
The table setting.
SECOND COURSE
Plantain soup
THIRD COURSE
Mélange of jumbo lump crab, mango, and avocado in a tropical fruit purée
FOURTH COURSE
Island pork tenderloin with a brown sugar glaze
Coconut shrimp with a mango sauce
Baked green rice
Green bean sautée
FIFTH COURSE
Raspberry sorbet
Layered key lime tart
Molten chocolate cake
The staff from the gourmet club that prepared and served the dinner.
The whole group enjoying post-dinner drinks on the deck.
Then, we got takeaway gifts of a rum cake, spiced nuts, and a packet with ALL the recipes! I will definitely be making the Chocolate BBQ Sauce because it was DIVINE and I could have drank it with a straw!
Overall it was a fun night and a very enjoyable meal…I just wish I hadn’t been running on fumes (zero hours of sleep after our short weekend trip to DC).
Weekend Babysitter
The kids had their first non-family member weekend babysitter while we were in DC—she’s the mom/nanny I found on SitterCity that introduced me to the mommy group.
Thankfully Owen has outgrown his major issue with us leaving and was completely okay with Amy (and her daughter) coming over to stay. It also probably helped that he sees her every week at play group.
He wanted to wait on the porch for them and when they pulled in, he excitedly screeched “Miss Amy’s here!” 🙂 Tom arrived shortly after they did and when he walked in, Owen pointed at Amy with a sweeping arm motion and said “Daddy! Looook!” It was adorable.
Then we were off and Owen barely even noticed or cared! YAY! On the way up, Amy texted this picture:
Awww! So cute! She said “They are just both so great. Owen is SO polite!” And she said he was calling her Sir Amy because he went on missions and reported back to her. They set up perimeters in the back yard. Soldiers manning the slides, all safe. That’s SO him. 🙂
Saturday morning I got this picture, saying her daughter braved the morning swim:
Later that day—“Airing out the babes.” 🙂
I told her I’d never even taken both of them out together! She’s hired! (I asked her later who was in which stroller and she said Owen was too squished in the small stroller so Katie went in that one and he went in the bigger stroller but that it was a tight fit. I’m impressed he fit at all—I would have made him walk! But, she said snacks and drinks were a necessity!)
Amy had also brought one of her dogs over—which Maggie LOVED! Owen wasn’t too sure at first because she’s a big dog…but Saturday evening I got this text:
“These two have become quite the pals!” (She told me later that the dog would follow Owen around the backyard as he played, and Owen would stop to pet her and incorporate her into his imaginative scenarios.) YAY OWEN!!
Then I got a text saying the barter box* was full:
*Part of Amy’s payment is a box of goodies from our huge pantry. We first did it when she watched Maggie one weekend and Amy was game for another surprise box!
Our wide-awake cutie:
We made it home about 3:45, but only for long enough to get ready for our dinner at the General’s house at 6. We didn’t want to confuse Owen (or possibly start a tantrum by him seeing us leave again) so Amy took the kids out for ice cream while we rushed in and out.
We got home—FOR GOOD—at 9:45. Amy said both kids were VERY good, that Owen is incredibly polite and has extremely good manners, and that Katie was attached to Amy’s daughter at the hip all weekend. 🙂
It was AMAZING not having to worry one bit about the kids all weekend. I am eternally grateful to have found Amy.
And as a word of warning to the grandparents: the bar has been raised…we now expect texts and photos when you guys babysit the kids! :p
Star Trek Patio Party
We headed to DC this weekend for another Patio Party (the last one was in 2008) with the TiVo peeps. The two main events were—obviously—a viewing of the new Star Trek movie and a party on a patio. 🙂
Tom cleaning off the patio:
Me at my first Coke Freestyle machine:
The best seats EVER at a movie theater—electric reclining leather seats (no flash on my self-taken photo because a lady two rows behind us threw a hissy fit that people were using their flashes…before the lights even dimmed and WAY before the movie was even close to starting):
Our group that saw the non-3D version of the movie:
One of our good friends, Andrew:
My obligatory self-portrait pose (taken specifically for Andrew because he gives me grief about taking those pictures):
A recreation of a 2008 Patio Party photo:
And that’s about all the photos. We take a lot less pics now for whatever reason…
The only bad thing about the weekend was that my drink of choice for the evening—vodka and Monster [energy drink]—apparently reacts completely different with my body than it used to and I did not get one wink of sleep Saturday night. 😐 This was NOT the best time or place to have to realize this…away from home with a 6-hour drive ahead of us and nighttime plans once we do get home.
Once we got on the road and grabbed a quick hot breakfast at Panera, it was off to Ikea for a quick visit to pick up Owen’s present (he always gets a present when we come back).
So overall it was a good—though short—weekend!
I didn’t do it!
I was in the kitchen doing something and when I looked in the living room, I saw this:
Owen swears he didn’t do it. Knowing Katie, it’s entirely possible she actually did do it herself…so I had Owen join her.
And a good shot of her cute outfit from (I think) Grandma Marsha!
A friend in the pool
After play group today, Amanda and Xander stayed so the boys could go in the pool. Xander is two…and wasn’t quite sure—for the first hour anyway—about the whole thing. But he eventually went in. They were having a blast splashing each other.
Later, Amanda texted me:
Thank you again so much for today. Xander has not stopped talking about playing with Owen since he woke up.
Xander just adores Owen and it’s sooo cute to watch…
Happy Mothers Day Recreation
I have always loved this picture of me with my mom…so now that I have a daughter of my own about the same age, I decided to recreate the photo today. I tried to match the outfits and sunglasses but this was the best I could do. It’s hard to believe its almost 40 years apart (1974 and 2013).
How Owen eats a cinnamon roll
Yep, just the frosting. 🙂
And we have a playset!
We weren’t really planning on getting a big playset, but once I saw Owen playing on his little Step 2 playset and saw that he had really outgrown it…I looked on the local Yard Sales board and found exactly what we wanted, emailed the lady, and made plans to go look at it (it was 45 minutes away). I was excited because most of these types of sets are SUPER expensive and have too many things that Owen wouldn’t really use, but this one was actually quite reasonable and had things Owen would like (towers, ladders, a rock wall, and a tunnel!). We looked at it, Owen played on it and loved it, so we left a deposit last weekend and made plans to get it this weekend (Tom was in the field all last week).
I thought the process would take ALL day, possibly requiring two trips (and since it was 45m one way, two trips would have been dreadful)—even with our friend’s big trailer—because Tom had no one able to help him. But thankfully at the last minute I managed to get a friend’s husband to help (the ones buying our old playset!) and then one of our best friends was also able to help…and he also offered his big truck (which ended up being critical) and the whole thing was done in like two hours, not counting drive time! They had it apart and loaded on the trailer and truck in under an hour (the lady texted me to tell me and we were both amazed) and I think it took about the same to unload and put it together. YAY!
“Mom! The number one!”
“Mom! Look! It’s the letter A!”
Testing out the bench.
He had to run and get some cars…
Are you done screwing the slide in so I can use it?
Wheeee!
Tunnel!!
Uncle Tom! (A great picture that I’m ticked ended up blurry! I had an in-focus one but you couldn’t see Owen’s face.)
The workers!
Katie’s first swing!
Also, as a bonus, we didn’t have to use any money from the savings account for the cost of the thing (which was not inconsequential). We had our stash of Craigslist/LejeuneYardSales cash from a few recent sales for the deposit last weekend, then I sold a bunch of stuff this week to finish out the rest of the payment. YAY!
Six years ago this weekend…
It’s hard to believe my trip to Texas was six years ago…it seems like yesterday!
In the elevator!
Owen was busy setting up Lego figures and them he says “Mom! Look! They’re all in the elevator going to Gramma Jean’s!”
Colorful old outfit!
Yet another Jenny outfit from the days of yore… Could she BE any cuter?
C’mon Gramma Jean…I’m holding up my end of the bargain by dressing her in these and taking pictures…where are the pictures of ME to prove I actually wore this stuff? 🙂
Papa’s Bracelet
Owen got this out today and wanted to wear it. I asked if he remembered who made it for him…and of course he remembered. 🙂
Morning Fun
I started out taking photos of Katie in this cute outfit…I think the shirt came from Grandma Marsha or Grannie Lin and I think I got the skirt—but they match perfectly. And how cute is the little skirt?!
And then Owen got involved… Well, he just sat there and she LOVES to crawl on him so off she went.
Then back to Miss Katie.
Katie Kid
Another 9m summer outfit that we had to get on at least once before it doesn’t fit (though we have the same thing in a 12m ready to go)! I’m pretty sure Gramma Jean got both of them!
Owen LOVES to get in there with her. Silly kid.
Trying to appease the hungry beast without hauling out the high chair while still being outside and enjoying the weather… Of course, it was also a test to see if she’d leave everything (or most everything) on the plate. Ha. HA. HAHAHA. I think it lasted a minute or two at most. I did not, however, get a picture of the food scattered across the entire blanket!
Cruisin’ in the Caddy
Owen and Jocelyn at play group this morning. He could have driven but chose to ride.
A great day to be outside!
Wow. Just wow.
Today was one of those rare North Carolina days where the weather is perfect, there’s a nice breeze, there’s no bugs, and it’s perfectly glorious to be outside…so we took full advantage of it!
I got out the kid enclosure our friends loaned us to put Katie on the deck under the umbrella (so I didn’t have to worry about sun) and she didn’t mind it too much.
And then he climbed in with Katie.
Meanwhile I was catching up on some of my big ol’ stack o’ magazines.
And Owen was running around playing with/snapping his Indiana Jones whip (something he’s not allowed to do inside), running around the yard, climbing on his playset, and playing with his army men* that he earned this morning for pooping. 🙂
And here you can see him in all his adorable action:
We came inside for a little bit because after her nap, Katie was NOT having it…but when daddy got home, we decided to eat dinner outside!! By then it was a little cooler but still definitely worth staying out to enjoy it.
Ahhh, spring!
* The army men were an unplanned surprise. They were a gift from Grandma Marsha probably two years ago (in a Diego backpack) that we just tucked away until he was old enough to play with them. And I had kinda forgotten about them as they were in Katie’s closet (Owen’s old closet). But today, Owen happened to be in her room with us and the closet doors were open and his inquisitive eyes glommed on to Diego RIGHT away: “What is this?!” 🙂 Then he opened it and found the army men…which I then immediately used as a potty training bribe!
Locked in.
Yeah, so, I just got locked in the bathroom with Owen while Katie was roaming around ungated. (I thought she was gated in but then I heard her playing with the dog bowl and knew she was on the loose.)
Talk about trying to stay calm in a panic.
How did it happen? Well, the door knobs were off from a kid-locking-herself-in-during-play-group-incident earlier that morning and I hadn’t put them back on yet (no, we were never given the little keys to unlock the doors—and we’d tried to find some to buy but just never did). So I didn’t even think about it when I shut the door behind me to keep Katie out while I dealt with a diarrhea pull-up.
Talk about an instant all-over body sweat.
Okay. I can’t get the door open. Who do I call? Who is closest that might be home? I thought of any of the mommy group people who were just there but I knew the closest ones had kids napping…
Okay, I can get one pin out—if I can get them all I can take the door right off the hinges. Nope, the other two are stuck. Calling Tom was pointless since it would take him at least 45m to get home (and there’s not much he could do over the phone).
Who would know how to get the door off? Roger might, but he’s likely busy. Ursula—she could at least come get Katie and then—oh, duh—she could likely put the knob back on. So I called her and she wasn’t home (5m away) but was in town (15m) so as I was telling her what was going on I was still messing with the door and trying not to sound terribly panicked…when I somehow managed to move something just enough to allow me to open the door.
Ah.
Breathe.
Wipe the sweat off my forehead as I thank Ursula for answering her phone.
Then race to find Katie…who was happily playing in the playroom.
Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
And put “buying keys” on our shopping list. 😐
What a morning.
So the things I expected yesterday that didn’t happen…happened this morning as I was prepping to host play group.
Yeah, while I wasn’t looking, Owen was laying on the floor trying not to poop…and left a nice puddle of diarrhea on the carpet because it overflowed the pull-up. 😐
Then he was so messy he needed a quick wash and rinse, which meant Katie had to go to her crib and MY GOD you would have thought I set her in hot lava for all the screaming.