SO big!

I'm too lazy to see if I've already used that title before. I feel like I have, but oh well.



Sorry about the non-posting. We were in Maui with Dave's parents, in Michigan for my best friend's wedding, and then my parents came back with me for two weeks to visit for Christmas. I'm a slacker and didn't take my camera to the wedding. So I'll put those pictures on my flickr when I get them. You can see my Maui pictures, Michigan, Big Island and random fun with my parents pictures here. I also posted some Christmas pictures, though I still need to go through the ones my Dad took and see what he came up with.

We spent the morning at the clinic because Isobel has Bronchitis. Fun, fun! I'm going to my doc in the morning to see how I am. We are going to spend the next week taking it easy, and getting ready for Dave to come home (hopefully I'll be posting our homecoming pictures soon). He is not going to know what to do with Isobel. Her vocabulary is growing exponentially, and usually amazes me. Besides talking my ear off, the child is fascinated with Signing Time, and can sign/say/identify correctly all of her colors. She also has decided that recognizing numbers and letters is a good thing to know, and will randomly say, "SEVEN!" or "S!" while pointing to a 7 or an S (as well as many of the other numbers and letters). Most recently she started saying part of our prayer with me at meal times. She knows the last word in every phrase, and will complete the prayer for me. Always ending with a big, "AMEN!" I really cannot believe that she will be TWO on Friday. How do we have a two year old already? Where did the time go?

a post about myself

On Tuesday I got my hair cut. Now I realize that this is a normal occurrence, especially in this military world where my husband used to have a hairdresser COME TO OUR HOUSE once a week to do his hair. Since we've moved to Hawaii he's shortened that to every two weeks, though I don't really know what he's doing out there in the desert right now. All I know is that he has his hair back, and is without a mustache! Anywho, this post is about me...

So after night after night of watching What Not to Wear, I decided that it was time to make a change. I made an appointment to get my hair cut, which was a bit difficult for me, as my normal girl here on the island is on Maternity leave and I was kind of hoping to hold out for her. But my hair was driving me nuts. So I called the salon, and they booked me an appointment. I almost canceled, but then I had to go across the street to dress shop for Traci's wedding, so I decided to keep the appointment. OH MY GOSH. This girl is fabulous. She started at my particular salon in June and I haven't been there since (she had been at another location before that). I had Traci's hair dresser do my hair when I was on the Mainland, and I hadn't had a cut since. Anyway, I adore this girl (she's significantly younger than me so I can call her a girl, wink).

I am so thrilled with the new 'do. It is easy peasy. I've ever had this many compliments on my hair. Now, I realize that probably isn't a good thing, but it has seriously changed my outlook on "getting ready" for the day. I have been wearing makeup everyday since. Weird, I know. And I am finally ready to get myself some grown up clothes, and stop living in my college world of ripped hem jeans and concert t's. Not to say I won't ever be in these staples of my current wardrobe, but I am going to make a concerted effort to be more grown up. Then, maybe the neighbors will stop asking if I'm the mom...









ps, I voted on Friday as we have early voting here in Hawaii. So don't you go thinking I was shopping and getting my hair cut when I should've been voting. I took Isobel with me and told her all about the process. We even celebrated with a chocolate shake! She might be a bit young, but that's OK, because I have fond memories of going to vote with my parents.

Happy Halloween!

We went to the MAG (Marine Air Group, our squadron is a part of this group) Halloween Party last night. We had a ball! Iso was Tinkerbell this year, though she doesn't even know who that is. The only way I convinced her to wear the outfit was the promise of the cute little shoes. After we got it all on, she was happy. She even loved playing with the wings. They had a bounce house, a fire truck, etc. Iso had so much fun running around and dancing to the music. We aren't going trick or treating tonight, which is why we got dressed up last night. She has no idea what trick or treating is, and frankly she doesn't eat candy so why go out begging for it?

Only three more weeks until our travels begin! We are so excited for our family trip to Maui. I know Iso is going to have so much fun with her cousins. She recently found a picture of one of her cousins (G) who will be in Maui with us, and has been carrying the photo around with her talking to G. It's so cute.

Night Night with Daddy

Tonight I had the crazy idea to take a picture of Iso after she had fallen asleep. I realize I'm crazy, but it was so cute how she fell asleep snuggling with her Daddy doll and two babies. We are really missing daddy here. Isobel still asks to watch his video of stories at least once a day. Today she took off running after a Marine in his cammies leaving daycare today. Poor baby. She thinks all guys (and girls) in cammies and flight suits are Daddy. We can't wait for this deployment to be over.

Iso was sick for about a week, so my camera was in hiding while we snuggled on the couch all week. I took some pictures of her the first night she got sick (before I knew she was sick), so that explains why they lived in my camera for over a week. Poor thing, I found a pink helicopter top and cammo trainer bottom outfit and was trying to make her put on a fashion show when all she wanted to do was snuggle in bed with me. You can go check out the pictures at my flickr.

Isobel and I had fun playing outside this weekend. We went up to the Super Playground with our friends this weekend, and Isobel had so much fun walking across the bridge on the big kid play structure. She's a little leery of slides after she went sliding off the end of a BIG slide last week. No injuries, just shock. So I had to go down the big tube slide with her over the weekend.

This morning when we were getting dressed Isobel decided that she didn't want to wear the shorts I made her, but the frilly green dress went over much better. She's definitely starting to have some opinions on what she's wearing.

Grandma K taught Isobel to say "cool" when she has sunglasses on. So, Isobel has been running around the house the past few days asking for her sunglasses. She wears them until she gets distracted, but it's super funny to see this little thing running around the house with nothing but a diaper and sunglasses on.

Isobel learned to drink properly from a sports bottle top, so now she gets to have a big girl water bottle! And I don't have to share my water bottle :) I love our kleen kanteens. All of the tops are interchangeable, so I just took the sports top from Dave's bottle (that I've been using for myself, got to love having two in rotation) and replaced the sippy top that was on Isobel's cup.

Capt.

Capt.
Originally uploaded by apeanutinparadise

He made Captain! They pinned him yesterday/today? This time difference is killer. Those bars come from Dad H's good friend who lives here on the island too. Dave is really proud to wear them. It seems kind of odd to have him get pinned without me, I wish I could be with him to celebrate.

Isobel and I played putt putt (not so much) and bumper boats today for our friend MD's 3rd birthday. I had no idea the bumper boats (complete with water guns) would go over so well. She wanted to get in the pool. I really need to look into getting her swim lessons.

big girl

Iso began refusing to eat her "baby" this week. For those of you without young children, "baby" is what Iso calls YoBaby Yogurt. It's good stuff. Organic, un-homogenized whole milk yogurt with fruit. YUM! We eat at least one a day here. She used to try to get me to let her have two a day, and then all of a sudden she wouldn't let me feed her more than one or two bites at a time. Perplexed, I finally just gave her the cup. She went and got a spoon out (note to self, go install locks on remaining drawers), sat down on the kitchen floor (note to self, mop floor), and proceeded to feed herself the yogurt (note to self, she's no longer a baby).

So today I decided to make a photo shoot out of her first experience with a full cup. What you see on her chin is the only bit that didn't get in her mouth. I am totally impressed. You can check out the other pics from this afternoon here. At dinner she ate her whole slice of pizza. This child is amazing, as soon as I start doubting her eating abilities she turns around and shocks me into next week. Her vocabulary is growing every day, and her new words this week include cow and "nuss." Nuss is Iso speak for nurse, which is much more intelligible than "side." That always confused people, "Does she want to go outside?" No, she just wants to nurse on the other side. I used to ask her if she wanted to nurse on the other side, and she decided that that is what we are going to call nursing. Isn't it interesting how their minds work?

thoughts on dave

So this week is halfway. Really and truly. I sent Dave his halfway box today, so I hope he enjoys it :) When I first saw the pic here, I thought Dave was trying to give himself an afro (would you be shocked if he was, I wouldn't). But then I realized he was just scribbling stuff out so I could post this for you. He's doing well. Isobel and I got to Skype with him this week. So now every time she walks by the computer she reaches up, "'puter? Da? up? Da?" Oh my, it's heartbreaking. I think she's convinced Dave is IN the computer. He looked good though, and I must admit that the mustache wasn't as bad as I expected. And his hair is finally growing back, woohoo! On a Dave note, I took this
picture of Brady for him. Brady dog was extra thrilled with me this evening. I finally decided to start running again (I know, I know, it's been 2 years since I ran). All the walking we do has certainly helped though, because I was able to run a mile straight. This is no small feat for me, that's what I was doing before I had Isobel AND tonight I was pushing the jogger and corralling the dog. My goal is to be able to do a 5k with Dave when he gets back. Mind you he will be pushing the jogger, holding the leash and maybe I'll make him sing to me just so I can keep up ;) So it's up to you to keep me accountable for this goal. The plan is to run 3 times a week. We already walk 3-5 miles 5 days a week, so I hope it doesn't take too long to get to my goal.

Since my last post I got a call that Isobel's name came up on the wait list for the part day childcare program on base. We dropped in last week to check out the class and Isobel fell in love when they brought the bubbles out. The program is T/TH mornings and I am really excited about the prospect of having 6 hours a week to myself. Tuesdays I go to yoga and I am hoping to get my instructor to start a class on Thursdays too, but if not I guess I'll just hang solo at the house and work on my craftiness. Another benefit is that I can run errands without her. Did you know that the post office takes only a few minutes without a toddler in tow? My friend has started calling these types of errands 5/30 errands. They should take only 5 minutes, but end up taking 30 minutes when you have to drag your kids in and out of the car.

Isobel is trying to sleep in my lap, and it's 11:30 here, so I'll be going now...

lake girls

if you've been checking my flickr, you know that I'm alive. We were on the mainland for almost six weeks, and came home to Oahu and a dead hard drive. So my PSA for today is BACKUP you stuff. I lost lots of pictures of Brady and of me pregnant (you could read this as me pleading for you to send me any pictures you may have of Brady dog, Dave, Me, or anything else you may think we need). Thankfully I have most Isobel pictures online (so now comes the lovely task of downloading all my stuff, talk about time consuming).

Now to the picture. Isobel went on her first camping trip while we were in Michigan. She LOVED it. Seriously. She did great. I had to drag her out of Higgins Lake kicking and screaming. She loved it, and we haven't had a "bath" situation since. Thank goodness! Now that we are home, bath time has become a peaceful time for the two of us. She loves to play in the water (and seriously the only things in the tub with her are two measuring cups and a toy duck), and I love not chasing her around the house. I have MANY more pictures from our trip on my flickr. Go check it out.

I seriously just plugged my computer in 20 minutes before writing this, so look for more pictures to come as I finish uploading pictures from my camera and the CDs my dad burned for me before I left. I also have a treat for you :) Isobel's first picture. Some of you may have been sent a "picture mail" from Dave when Iso was first born, but those pictures have always been stuck on my camera phone. Now that I have my fancy new phone I had Sprint transfer the pictures to my new phone, and I am so excited to finally be able to get a real print of Isobel's first picture!

Dave is almost to the halfway point. I know he really appreciates all of your letters, emails and packages, so keep them coming! Speaking of pictures for you all, I have some great pictures of Dave, that I can't wait to post.

Well, I need to get some sleep. I hope this finds you all well. Sorry it has been so long since we checked in.

Dave might not be happy with me:

He sent me this picture today. From what I gather all the "new" guys are supposed to get their heads shaved. Oh, and yes, that is a mustache you see. He's doing well, and finally settled into his "can". Hopefully we'll get pictures of that soon.

Isobel and I leave tomorrow night for the mainland. Grandma(s) and Grandpa(s) here we come!

I made this Martha Stewart bouquet for my friend's baby shower. There are onesies and kimonos in there for the new babe. I also knit a pair of pants for the little Red Lion/Red Wings fan/Christmas baby.

a twist on "mama's shoes"

a twist on "mama's shoes"
Originally uploaded by apeanutinparadise

Isobel is in love with my crocs. The other day I found EVERY last pair of my crocs in her room. She neatly lines them all up in front of the full length mirror in her room, and takes turns standing in the different shoes. She also loves to eat my granola bars, and lucky for her I don't mind sharing my food or my shoes :)

We have been going to Playmorning at the Armed Services YMCA. Playmorning is from 9:30-11:00, and we have play time then circle time. It is led by a retired preschool teacher, and Isobel adores her. Our favorite thing to do is play outside with the bubbles. It is a great chance for Isobel to interact with children who are both older and younger than her, and I get to have adult conversation for over an hour every day!

According to my mother I have become really "domestic." I think she says that because in the last week I have made homemade bread, yogurt and ice cream. Yum! Isobel and I demolished the loaf of whole wheat bread I made in two days. The yogurt didn't even last that long. I finished the whole quart in less than 24 hours (and a second quart is now in my refrigerator calling me to eat it). The ice cream is for tomorrow night. But I did "test" it after I finished making it. You know, to make sure it won't kill anyone tomorrow. I'll let you know who survives eating my ice cream...

It's Swiffer Time!

Last week we stopped at Amber's for dinner and Isobel decided to swiffer her floor (click on the picture for the WHOLE story). She loves to help out these days, and can frequently be seen "dusting' my coffee table with a clean wipe. Who knows where she picked up this chore, as it is rarely done in our house ;-)

We have a tooth almost ready to come through, so our nights have been long. This child amazes me every day with the new things she'll eat. Spaghetti is the new favorite, followed closely by one of Daddy's favorites: black beans and rice. Seriously, I think the child is trying to be a vegetarian. She doesn't really care for meat, usually she won't touch it. But Isobel downs whole wheat pasta and brown rice like it's going out of style.

Another Pilot?

Apparently Isobel wants to follow in her daddy's footsteps. We went to Bayfest this weekend with some of my friends from the squadron through Operation Homefront. They bought our tickets for us and provided us with pizza, and wristbands for unlimited rides :) We had to ride the helicopter ride a few times because I didn't really want to take her on any of the other "kid" rides. Then Isobel fell asleep and I was able to ride a few "grown up" rides. Many thanks to Dave's wonderful CO for watching Isobel while I rode the "Hang Glider", the bumper cars, and the ferris wheel.

18 Months!

Isobel will be 18 months old on Wednesday! Today we had our well baby check, though Isobel is more and more of a big girl every day. She tipped the scales at 22 lbs and 31.5 inches. She also did so well with the vaccinations she received today. So well that I am on the hunt for the perfect baby doll (so please give me a shout if you have a good recommendation).

Words we learned this week include Amen and share. Two good words to know! Isobel's great grandparents gave her a doll that says it's prayers, and she has been walking around the house squeezing this doll saying, "ah-mi! ah-mi!" for the past few days. It took me a few times to realize she was saying Amen!

This is how Isobel naps these days:

Excuse the fruit leather around her face, apparently my days of teaching daycare didn't give me enough practice wiping faces clean ;)

My friend made the doll for her, and we are sure glad we have it. Today Isobel wanted to watch her Daddy movie and snuggled her daddy doll before going down for a nap. We are really missing Daddy, but it's nice to hear his voice every few days.

PSA

Please forward this on to everyone you know with young children. Isobel will be rear facing until she reaches the 35 lb limit on her seat.

"Sah Sah!"

We spent some time at the beach this weekend:


On Saturday we went to Kailua beach with the squadron, and Isobel was less than enthusiastic about playing in the sand and going "swimming" with mommy. At the very least, our outing provided the much needed energy drain that led to Isobel's 2.5 hour nap. And my falling asleep during our bedtime routine that night. I'm not admitting to anyone that I woke up at 9pm in the rocking chair, and went straight to bed...

The funny part about Isobel is that later in the day on Saturday she wouldn't let me take her OUT of the water at the beach by our house (which is much louder and has much bigger waves). She insisted on standing in the water, and letting the waves come crash up on her. Good thing I was too lazy to take her rash guard off (isn't it pretty, see above). I was a bad mommy, and had let her out of the house with nothing but a thin cloth diaper and the aforementioned rash guard on... We had so much fun (WHHEEEEEE!) that I promised Isobel and Brady a more well planned trip to the beach in the morning. Sunday morning rolls around, and down we go. Except this time I have the forsight to put Isobel in a swim diaper. The child walked in the sand for a little bit, mind you she had to leave her Crocs on to do this, and then demanded to be picked up. Poor Brady, he thought I wasn't going to play with him. Despite loosing my cell phone in the sand (don't worry I found it), and balancing a wriggly toddler on my hip I was able to let Brady play fetch into the water for awhile. We were almost back to the stairs when Isobel started saying "Sah Sah," which is toddlerese for Sand Sand! I put her down, and the child walked right up to the water and stuck her feet in! We spent a good amount of time waiting for the waves to come say hi. I think from now on I'll need to bring Brady to the beach while Isobel is in daycare, and bring Isobel without Brady. The two of them together are too much for me to handle.

The news from David is that they are BUSY and he's hoping to start making posts of his own soon. We've spoken a few times :) Isobel absolutely loves watching her Daddy video. She asks for it all day long, so it is usually playing in her room. I decided to move the little TV and the XBOX into her room so she can watch Daddy before naps and bed (and yes, I'm hoping she'll start falling asleep to the video... for now I play the slideshow that has soothing music on it while I nurse her down).

Dave deployed last week to Iraq. We are missing Daddy here, but have been trying to keep busy. You can check out more pictures from the send off here.

Isobel has also been more adventurous with food recently. She loves spinach pizza, yogurt, and beans and rice. Check out what she did last night at the CO's house


that isn't her plate, but she was so intent on eating from it. Thank goodness my friend and her kids don't mind Isobel's poor manners ;)

I Scream, You Scream

We all scream for ice cream!


Isobel had her first encounter with an ice cream cone this weekend. We went down to the Hale Koa resort to play in the sand, and Isobel got a taste of our ice cream cones. I think she likes it :)



Isobel had her first real kiss this weekend too. We had a final BBQ this weekend before Dave deploys, and Isobel loved having her friend over to play.

Is it really June already? We played on two beaches yesterday, and Isobel had SO much fun. She is getting so brave with the sand and the waves. As you can see in the Ko Olina pictures, Isobel loves flavorful food. She dove right into my Mattar Paneer and rice without hesitation, and ate more last night for dinner than I have seen her eat in a long time. She definitely loves Indian food.

I also finished up a skirty I have been working on this past week. The yarn and the pattern came from two of my online friends, and they go perfectly together.

Paradise Found

Today I hiked to the Likeke Waterfall with Isobel on my back and Brady at my side. Amber showed us her favorite hike, and I am in love. Isobel sat nicely in her baby carrier the whole way up, slept most of the way down, and was an all around angel on the trail. It felt great to get out there and see a new part of the island, but I have a feeling my body is going to be hurting tomorrow. Brady stayed close by, much to my shock, and he had loads of fun playing in the stream with Maddie. You can see more pictures here

Beautiful Girl

Beautiful Girl
Originally uploaded by apeanutinparadise

We went boating on Kaneohe Bay for the first time this week. Isobel absolutely loved watching the water and looking at the coral reef. She surprised me by happily putting on her life vest, and keeping it on the entire boat ride without one complaint. We also found out how well sunscreen works, by the two big spots I missed on her cheeks :( Poor baby! I won't be making that mistake again. Isobel loves to go down to the beach now and play in the sand. This week we met a cute little three year old boy, and Isobel was smitten. She wouldn't walk away from him until she could give him a hug. It was absolutely adorable. Today was also Isobel's 2nd day at the hourly childcare center on base. She really seems to like the class, and I really like her teachers.

The late afternoon sun creeping through the window made for interesting pictures. We had a fun weekend with Daddy, and his friends are here now visiting us for the week.

snoozing in the swing

Originally uploaded by apeanutinparadise

How has my child gone from full out back arching fits to falling asleep in the swing in the past week or so? I was knitting up a helmet liner and singing her songs, and she passed out. At least she is comfortable in the swing, right? No, I didn't leave her there. I snapped a picture and quickly transfered her to the crib. I guess it would be like me taking a nap in a hammock though. Speaking of which, I think we need a hammock :)

Swinging on the Lanai

Swinging on the Lanai
Originally uploaded by apeanutinparadise

Isobel is finally enjoying the swing I picked up for her in January. She says something like, "bore!" which is her way of asking for more, while pointing at the swing. She loves to sing Ba Ba Black Sheep and ABC's while swinging.

better late than never

Isobel's first trip to the zoo included this encounter with a monitor lizard.



I love this shot of her eyes from the week before.

I swear I'm going to post more often. How about posts on Monday, and maybe once more during the week if you're lucky?

Mother's Day was fabulous, except that I didn't get any pictures of Isobel and me. Oh well. My wonderful husband set up a spa day for me on Thursday, and we are supposed to be getting a tree too.

top of the world

or the climber.   She climbed up the slide all by herself too.

waves

Watching the waves roll with daddy.