It Was Inevitable

We started bringing Grace to church since she was just a week old and she's always been such an angel. Any fussing was pretty minor and the only thing I could possibly complain about were the diaper blowouts she seemed to always have in the middle of mass.

Today, however, made up for any previous good behavior. She fussed. She cried. She inadvertently made me flash the people in our pew when I tried to get her to settle down by nursing. I very quickly had to admit defeat and I grabbed my bag and spent the rest of the mass out in the lobby.

At least the rest of the day went smoothly.

The Neu's

One of my concerns about being a Navy wife was the constant moves we inevitably have to make. I was afraid of not being able to find good friends in such short amounts of time. But that fear was completely unfounded. My life has become richer because of all the wonderful people I have met as a result of moving here. And my friendship with Vernessa and her beautiful family is a true blessing.

After weeks of trying to coordinate schedules, we were finally able to hang out with the Neu family today. They brought us a fabulous lunch complete with dessert and we had a great time catching up with each other. And I always love seeing her sweet girls!

Withdrawal

For the past two days it's been dreary and rainy here in Japan, which makes my Saipan withdrawal that much more intense. I miss the warm sunshine and blue skies of Saipan. Because of the weather, Grace and I have been cooped up inside. I've discovered that she loves being in her pack'n'play. I put a few of her toys in there and she has a blast entertaining herself. I actually got to read a couple of chapters in my book because of it. She even tired herself out and took her afternoon nap in there- all without fuss!


Here's an embarrassing story that I'm sharing in the interest of recording all my motherhood experiences- good and bad. Although Grace is not quite sleeping through the night yet, she's getting close. I usually get up only once during the night to nurse her and she'll sleep in until 8 or so in the morning.

But the past couple nights were different. Two nights ago, she was running a temperature because of her immunizations so although she slept well, I was restless because I wanted to make sure her fever didn't spike too high. Last night, she was restless for some reason so I was getting up every couple hours. And this morning when she wanted to be up at 5:30am, I had to resort to my emergency parenting plan of bringing her into bed with me and nursing her while we were both lying down.

This has always worked like a charm before and she'd fall asleep and give me another two to three hours of sleep. But this time she continued to be super fussy and cried. I was exhausted and couldn't understand why my emergency plan was not working. Thankfully, she eventually fell asleep and I immediately followed.

When I woke up, I understood why my baby was crying and complaining earlier- she had dried up milk all in her hair and face! Apparently, in my sleep-deprived stupor, I didn't realize that my milk was not actually making it in her mouth. I was squirting my child in the face with milk! I'm obviously not going to get the Mother of the Year award. Oh well, maybe next year....

Our Saipan Vacay

Last month Mike and I were reading the newspaper and saw ads for vacation specials to some exotic places and thought, "How cool would it be to go on a mini tropical vacation for Memorial Day weekend?" We always said having a baby wouldn't prevent us from doing cool things, so we decided to go for it. And when we mentioned the idea to our friends, the Blews and the Estoestas, they were all for it too. So off to Saipan we all went and had a fantastic time.

Traveling...
All the kids- big girls, Mya and Gabrielle, and the babies, Jasmine, Grace, and Gracie.

Waiting to board the plane.

Being entertained by Daddy.


Grace was a great traveler- she slept going to Saipan and then again coming home. I hope it goes just as smoothly when we go to Virginia Beach in a couple weeks.


Pool side...
My bathing beauty getting ready for the pool.



A little nap under the shade of a tropical tree.


Some time at the beach...







Adults only...


One night we hired a couple of babysitters so that we could have a grown up dinner. Another night the ladies thought it would be fun to wear matching outfits. The waitstaff got a kick out of our being triplets and remembered us from the night before as the 'happy table' since we spent the evening laughing hysterically and staying until the restaurant closed.

Yes, Jojo and I had the same bathing suit, but it was not intentional. We just happened to order the same one. Great minds think alike! The hats, however, were on purpose.


Saipan Scenery





We went to Saipan for some fun in the sun, rest and relaxation, and good times with good friends. I'm glad to say we accomplished our goal- and then some. All-you-can-eat buffets for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and lots of fruity drinks and mango smoothies probably helped me to gain a few pounds, but I don't even care at this point. It was worth it, even if I have to work extra hard this week to make up for it.

Ready for Saipan

Today was a hectic day spent packing for our weekend getaway to Saipan. Sometimes Grace cooperated, most of the time she did not. And it didn't help that I am a Facebook addict and the times she was being good (taking a nap), I spent checking out status updates of my friends. I admit, that part was completely my fault.

In exactly six hours, a van will be here to pick us up and drive us to the airport. The baby and her daddy are sound asleep, but I am STILL packing. I keep going over my list and making sure I have everything. This is our first trip with a baby and I want to be fully prepared. This will also be our first plane ride with a baby. Please let the people sitting near us be patient and understanding should she not enjoy her first plane ride. Luckily it's only a three hour flight. The one we take in a couple weeks back to Virginia Beach will be fourteen hours. I can't even think about it right now because it makes me so nervous.

I don't think I'll get much sleep tonight, but I plan to do plenty of relaxing by the beach this weekend to make up for it. Saipan, here we come!!

Nothing Much

Even though we haven't done anything particularly blog-worthy the past couple days, I need to post something or else I'll get in trouble with the grandparents. Here are a few pictures to keep them happy.





She's getting so good at rolling, she almost rolled right under the coffee table.


Being my little helper in the kitchen.


All ready for bed in her ducky sleepsack.

We Have Air!

I walked in from working out this afternoon and was greeted with a cold house. They finally turned on the air conditioning!

The past week or so, Grace has had trouble sleeping because it's been so hot in the house, but now we have a new issue. She is getting so good at rolling from her back to her belly, but still hasn't mastered the reverse roll. So now she keeps waking herself up when she inadvertently rolls over, but gets frustrated when she can't go back to her sleeping position.

If it's not one thing, it's another. Parenthood is never boring, that's for sure. I think I'll always be sleep deprived until she's graduated from college and has started her career.

A Visit to the ER

Don't worry, Grace is fine- she just has a couple nervous first-time parents. When I went to get Grace from her afternoon nap, I noticed she had some mini-hives all around her left eye and a few spots on her forehead. I feared she was having an allergic reaction. Mike immediately called the hospital and they told us to bring her in so they could have a look.

I tried not to worry too much on the way to the hospital. Afterall, she wasn't showing any signs of breathing difficulty, but I know that allergic reactions can sometimes progress pretty quickly, so I was still a little nervous. We were seen immediately once we got to the ER, but by the time she was getting her vitals taken, the rash/mini-hives that caused my panic had disappeared.

When the doctor got the chance to look her over, we looked like silly, first time parents for bringing her in. However, he was kind enough to assure me that should something like that happen again, we need to bring her in anyway since she's still pretty young and allergic reactions shouldn't be taken lightly. We did find out that Grace does have eczema, which I've suspected for the past couple weeks. We were given instructions to only bathe her every other day and make sure we moisturize her skin very well.

I wonder though if this whole episode was Grace's way of getting herself out of the house since Mike and I planned to spend the cloudy Saturday inside working on some house projects. My girl loves to be out and about, even if it's just a quick trip to the ER. Hopefully our next outing will be less nerve-wracking and more fun-filled.

Daddy's Little Office Assistant

I Paid for This?

There are certain things I had always thought I would do once I had a baby- decorate a beautiful nursery, dress my child in adorable clothes, and document milestones as much as possible, using professional photography when necessary.

Unfortunately, because we live in Japan, there is a lack of professional photography- unless we want to try and get them done out in town and pay an arm and a leg for them. So I was super excited when about a month ago, a professional photography company came to visit the base. I immediately signed Grace up to get her three month portraits done.

I was expecting them to be spectacular because my baby is so easy to smile. This is what we ended up with...



She cried during the entire photo shoot and the only non-crying shots the photographer could get was when she would take a breath in between her cries. So much for my perfect portraits. The salesperson didn't even attempt to get us to buy any portrait packages because even he could see they were horrible. We walked away with one picture that came with the photo shoot, and I consoled myself with the fact that we'll be in Virginia Beach when it's time for her six month portraits and I might have better luck in my hometown.

The Sweetest Sound

There is no sweeter sound than that of a child's laughter. It makes it that much better when it's your own baby's laughter. I'm loving this stage of babyhood. I'd be okay with time slowing down a bit so I can enjoy this stage a little longer.

This video is for Lola and Lolo and all my other friends who aren't on Facebook yet...

It's Getting Hot in Here

Although I'm grateful that the Navy provides housing for us while we live in Japan, there are definitely some disadvantages to military housing overseas. A big one right now is the lack of air conditioning. Even though the weather is getting quite warm, the air conditioning doesn't get turned on until June. We're making do by opening the windows, which doesn't really help all that much, and running the ceiling fan constantly. We also have a fan in the bedroom that I was forced to buy in the fall when they turned off the air and I was 6 months pregnant- heat and pregnancy don't mix.

Grace's bedtime routine has been going very smoothly for the past month and a half. Once I put her down for the night, she'll sleep very well and only wake up for a couple night time feedings. She even dropped a feeding a week ago so she was only getting up once during the night to eat. Heaven!

But now that it's getting hot, she's been having a hard time getting to sleep at night. What was once my easy night time routine with her has become quite challenging, thanks to the lack of air conditioning. Grace gets cranky because she's hot and can't get to sleep. As I type, it's already more than 2 hours past her bedtime and I can still hear that she's up. She's already down to sleeping in a onesie. If things don't get better soon, she may be sleeping in just her diaper!

Our New Hang Out Spot

Mike has always complained that my sofas were too small, but I thought they were lovely. They were the first pieces of furniture that I purchased when I bought my house six years ago and I have many fond memories of hanging out with friends on them. However, since Grace's arrival, they DO seem a little small and it was hard to cozy up all together as a family on my old ones.

We've been on the search for a comfortable sofa and finally came upon this one. I was a little unsure about the chocolate brown color since I really wanted something in a cream or off-white, but Mike convinced me that chocolate brown would be much more practical with a small child in the house. And seeing as how Grace nearly christened the new sofa this afternoon with an uncharacteristic amount of spit-up, I would have to agree.