Another Month Bites the Dust

I have had this song stuck in my head for like a week.



You're welcome.

They used to play this at the church I went to whenever a couple got engaged. I thought that was like the best thing ever. Everyone cheered and it turned into a party. Not very traditional, I know. Shoot, it was stuff like that that got me in the door and kept me there so long. By the time I was betrothed to BD, they didn't do it anymore. Boo. I still can't help but think of that every time I hear the song though.

Anyway. So I've been gone. Again. Blah blah blah.

I really do have good reasons. Wanna hear 'em? Here they go:

1. I know I've posted since then, but I never really elaborated about our Christmas trip to the Dominican Republic. It was rather awesome, if I do say so myself. We didn't get to go away last year since we were in the midst of a post-deployment cross-country move. And then, over the summer, we were quite The Busy. BD was working and we were hosting company weekend after weekend. It was pretty chock full of activity and we hardly missed getting our passports stamped between beaches, lakes, and San Antonio.

So, yeah. The DR was a great get-away. I slept on the beach a lot.


And we ate a lot. Playette made plenty of friends everywhere she went. We forgot we had brought an actual camera until the last two days. Whoopsie! But I did get this cute little clip of her with my phone after the resort staff handed out gifts to all of the kids. It was an impressive stunt, even after a parade complete with brass band and landing Santa on the beach in a helicopter.

I'm not even kidding.


Obviously, I'll need to devote a post to this trip.

2. Right after we got back, it was off to DC for an amazing New Year's Eve wedding of a very good friend. Can you say Best Wedding Evah? Yeah. Cause it was. From the goody bag in the room (complete with a red velvet Georgetown Cupcake) to the steel drum playing during the cocktail hour to the fun photo booth to the hip hop violinist while we dined on amazing food. I totally made myself stay up until the music stopped at 2am.

Again, I'm not kidding. Hip. Hop. Violinist. It was all sorts of amazing.


I wore my sparkly shoes for the occasion and was feeling super cute, belly and all. Even though several people were concerned that I'd be giving birth on the dance floor. Apparently, I am very large. It's nice that people remind me of that, isn't it?

3. The next morning, we had to hop out of the ever-so-comfortable hotel bed and make our way to pick up Playette from her sleepover with my friend's kids so that we could get home as soon as possible.

Why?

Because I had to fly to Tennessee at noon on Monday (yes, the holiday) to start my two weeks of annual training with the Navy Reserve. Highlight: I got to break out the khaki tent, my affectionate name for the maternity uniform. That thing is not only super comfy, but totally unflattering. And it has no pockets, so it's also impractical. Woot!

I met some great people, had a few fantastic meals, learned a lot, saw the Globetrotters, went to the National Civil Rights Museum, skipped Graceland on Elvis's birthday, and more. If my family had been there, I would have been solid. But they weren't, so I came home as soon as the opportunity was made available to me.

BD did a fantastic job of holding down the fort. And Playette. Of course I mean that figuratively. Maybe.

4. I got home and slept. Because, ironically, while I was busy doing items 1-3, time did not stand still and somehow I crossed over into my third trimester of growing a human. After 12-13 hour days of work while I was away, coming home to my own bed was absolute heaven. The adrenaline rush that kept me vertical through the training faded right along with the second trimester and my body did all it could to recuperate before I had to return to work on Tuesday.

5. And then, on top of everything, work is a boiling pot of stress. I hate it. Did I just write that? I think I did. I really need to do something about this. It's been bad since pretty much Day 1 and here we are five months later and I'm still there.

I have a goal in mind and I've pretty much met it, so I'm about one stupid comment away from being back at home full-time again. Little do they know. Or maybe now they do.

I. Don't. Care.

6. If there's another excuse in there somewhere - and who knows, maybe there was something else - I can't even remember.

But I'm here now.

And I'm feeling big scared great, so let's just ride that out for a while, shall we?

Things are going to drastically change soon enough.

Hold me?

Influenced

Playette has been in a typical daycare or preschool environment for nearly four years now.

Our purpose in going that route was to expose her to other children, since she had no siblings at home, and get some positive influences from her typically developing peers.

For the most part, we've been pleased. She's great at playing and learning amongst other children and has plenty of friends that she asks for by name. She also has friends with varying unique needs. We're all about equal opportunity over here. One of her buddies in her class last year in CA uses a wheelchair and I loved that, to Playette, she was just one of the gang. Which is as it should be.

Many adults could stand to learn a lot from these kiddos.

Along with the great stuff, we get some gems that we know can only have come from being in school.

The latest is the evolution from "uh-oh" to "OOOOOHHHHHHH!"

It cracks me up. Let's say you drop something. She is quick to point and yell, "OOOOOHHHHHHH!"

Like she caught you do something wrong and she's about to tell or as a warning that you're about to get in big trouble.

It's funny because, really...how much trouble am I apt to be in for dropping my keys? And who is going to punish me for that offense, exactly?

I love that little nut.

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We just got in from vacation last night, so we're buried in washing tons of warm-weather gear while also trying to put together something that resembles Christmas morning for the kidlet.

Sure it's two days later and after 6pm.

How much you wanna bet she won't care?

More later...

From: Us, To: You

Potpourri

My brain is a hodge-podge spiral of everything lately.

I create posts in my head that never get written.

And, seriously, what else is new?

I want to talk about pre-natal testing (PNT). Whew, that's a biggie. I've been reading an article lately. In itself, it's not long. It's the 190 comments that are taking time to rifle through. And there are some doozies in there. Some make me gag because they're just so over-the-top syrupy and others make me fear for my life in this country and wonder if the author is my neighbor or co-worker. You can read for yourself here.

The article was published back in September, but I only just now learned about it for a reason that I will discuss sooner than later. I just need time to get my long list of thoughts together. I figure that people have wondered about my position on PNT, especially now that my pregnancy is common knowledge, but they're too polite to ask. Which is cool. So I'll just tell.

In a similar vein, I had an appointment with, as my friend likes to call it, my "nurse collective" last week. I am officially 3/5 of the way through my pregnancy and the baby appears to be doing well. He moves a lot and he has a great sounding heartbeat. I feel pretty good for the most part and if I could just get motivated to find a support group like "Pregnancy after Weight Loss" I might be able to wrap my brain around this whole upward motion of the scale thing. Trust me, I know it's a necessary part of the process, but I still sigh at every weigh-in. I need to get over it.

At my appointment, unfortunately, I also had to deal with a question about Playette that made me think. It brought up the whole "educate or get pissed or both?" feelings again. I swear, as more time goes by, this isn't as clear cut as it used to be. At least I'm not so quick to cry anymore.

There's also work stuff that is out of control. Like, really. They have gone straight nutty on me. I know I mentioned it briefly back in August/September, but because I wasn't ready to talk about the babe yet, I didn't get into details about why what happened really sucked as much as it did. Suffice it to say that coming back was not what I anticipated.

I've got reserve duty coming up (which caused more drama at work) and I am already thinking of how much I'm going to miss Playette and vice versa. My girl really tugs at my heartstrings lately and every choice I make seems to impact her to the core. I hope she doesn't hate me when I get back. The one good thing that will come of this is my getting to wear what I fondly refer to as "The Khaki Tent" again. Not only will I get more of my money's worth out of this rarely-worn gem, but it's super-comfy. So, yay for that.

Also, I want to touch on infertility. That's not something I've ever talked about openly. But it's real. And that makes me even more grateful for what's currently going on with my body.

I hope you're all enjoying a wonderful holiday season. If you have any specific questions, please either post here or email me and I'll add it to the lot.

We'll be celebrating in a unique way this year and I look forward to telling you more about that, too.

Soon...very soon.

Anything in particular that you want to hear about first? Majority rules.

What I Like

What I like about this Thanksgiving is that my little fam is all together.

Sure, BD is at work right now, but he'll be home soon and, hopefully, phone calls of things going haywire will be kept to a minimum.

Last year, he was on a ship on the other side of the world while Playette and I spent the day sightseeing in San Francisco. He never even got the chance to have dinner since he was on watch and we (well, I) decided to forgo anything that resembled the traditional holiday festivities on that day (we did dine with friends the week prior) for fear of getting all sad and not focusing on what we did have. That can be tough, y'know? We're a unit over here and when that unit gets disturbed, it takes a bit of a toll.

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Hey. I don't think I ever posted any of those pics. I was a little overwhelmed last November. Wanna see some?

We stayed at the Marine Corps Memorial Hotel downtown. Great hotel, great location (the happy hour and breakfast buffet are a nice touch, too). Playette liked the mascot statue in the lobby.


We dined that night on yummy Italian fare. I think we split a plate of gnocchi.


In the morning, we went to Pier 39 where we took a boat tour around the bay.





I remember that I had to make the decision to put my camera away after the tour because crowds + squirmy, inquisitive kid + 1 adult meant something had to give. We did end up going on the carousel though. And also some movie thing. It wasn't a long deal, so maybe a 3D/4D suck-the-money-out-of-a-parent's-pocket feature? I can't recall. She did sit through the whole thing though. I was really happy about that.

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So I'm excited that today BD gets to eat and eat until his heart is content. We don't even have to cook or travel far, so that makes it even better.

My co-worker/friend has invited us to her house and she already has most of my donations. All that's left for me to bring is the carrot cake I made last night, some whipped cream for the pies, and my tupperware.

Because you know I'm bringing stuff home to nosh on, right?

The menu we planned includes things like two fried turkeys, ham, mac and cheese, dressing (I call it stuffing even though it's in a pan and not a bird, but we've agreed to disagree), greens, sweet potatoes (she swears by the kind from Honeybaked Ham so that's what I bought instead of making my own; we'll see), rolls, and...ok, I know there are sweet potato pies and my cake for dessert as well as a million other things, but I'm drawing a blank. It's too much food though, trust.

Oh! I did contribute cans of cranberry sauce, too. Because this girl here? Likes to cut the jelly along the ridge lines. I will never not like to do that. Fancy homemade stuff is fine and all, but I needs me some ridge-lined jelly.

I spent some time yesterday brainstorming on holiday card ideas. For a sorta-Scrooge, I am way into that and I can't even explain why.

We have lots going on for the next month. Good stuff to wrap up the year quite nicely. I even have a dress to go with those sparkly shoes and I can't wait to put them on together to ring in the new year while celebrating the nuptials of a good friend. Yay for parties and glitter and new beginnings!

I'm looking forward to today. And many tomorrows.

I hope that you are, too.

And please hope along with me that today is NOT the day that my cake decides to suck. Does anyone else get nervous like that when bringing food to someone else's house?

Giving In

I was going to wait to share Playette's costume until later in the week, but then I saw this photo that was taken yesterday at the festival we attended.

Resistance was futile.

She's too stinkin' cute to keep secret.

Check out our little peacock/butterfly.

Sneak Peek

We took Playette to a party today. It was free to military families and gave us an excuse to try out her costume, so we indulged.

It didn't end up being as fun as the flier indicated, but it wasn't awful and we got some nice family time in. I figure that's better than passing out on the couch while watching crap on TiVo/college football, which mayyy be what we might do most fall Saturdays.

I'll never tell.

I freaking love her costume. Love, love, love. I claimed it last year after a friend had it on her daughter. We're no strangers to going green with the costumes. A couple of years ago, that same friend passed the insanely cute Nemo on to us and then we paid it forward to another friend. This year's costume already has a home for next year and I think that's great. Too bad women don't share wedding dresses the same way. Imagine all the money saved!

I love saving money. I will talk to anyone anytime about saving money. Trust.

Anyway, here's your peek. More to come as the big day approaches.

Hint: She thinks she's a butterfly. She's not.

'Tis the Season

Around these parts, the end of June marks the ushering in of about a fortnight of celebrations at the Smith-Smiths'.

Today alone, we've got Juneteenth, Father's Day, and Playette's Birthday.

Which also means that I've been blogging for another full year. Wow.

We'll have a few days to enjoy our usual routine and then then comes my birthday, Independence Day, and our wedding anniversary.

I hope I'm not leaving anything out.

But, yeah, this is pretty much our holiday season.

Yesterday, we hosted a party for the Littlest at our neighborhood pool and clubhouse. She's wayyy into Dora these days so we had a luau themed pool party with a some character references sprinkled in.

Cate, you should know that one of her friends came in the suit and I gasped and clutched my non-existent pearls.

The party actually went really well, so I've been told. The kids were happy. The parents were cool. If something was awful, I missed it. Do I want to know? Eh. I think yes, but maybe I should remain blissfully ignorant and go with the whole success thing. We had help along the way, so I needn't be such a pessimist. I mean, from the decorator/photographer to the extra-juice-purchaser to the sure-I'll-wake-up-at-dawn-and-make-your-side-dishes-no-problem and more, we had a lot of great support and I really, really appreciate it.


It was short and sweet. The kids swam during the first hour and then we brought them inside for a lunch of hot dogs, chips, drinks, fruit, and salads.

On Friday night, I panicked, worried that we wouldn't have enough seats for all of the kids when it came time to eat. I pictured everything crumbing to pieces as children cried because there was no spot at a table. On Saturday morning, it came to me that we still had the rubber alphabet/number mats somewhere. Those were found and became the ultimate dining circle.


I was so impressed by our guests, let me tell you. They all were on their best behavior. Amazing, it was. I'd show you pictures of how poised they really were, but I didn't get permission to put their pics on the interweb, so you'll have to trust me on this one.


After eating, we - well - we ate again. This time it was ice cream and cake after singing to the birthday girl. She was soaking it all in and loved being the center of attention.

This is her SURPRISE! face.


I tried to skip out on opening presents, but thankfully I checked in with a friend first who informed me that kids actually enjoy that part and it's way different than the way most baby showers make my eyes go all glassy for two hours.

She was right. Of course. They were all into it, wanting their gifts to be opened next, wanting to help rip the paper off, wanting to see Playette get excited about what they had picked out for her. It was really cute.

Man. The presents. How could I have been so naive? I totally didn't expect the massive pile of presents. I mean, she has never been given so much stuff at once. We're very grateful for everyone's generosity and she's going to be trying out new things for a very long time.

So, after that, we were officially done. Tra-laaaa!

A little later than I had planned, but it seemed that just about all the kids were appropriately worn out and the parents I spoke to were happy that naps were imminent.

Those of us that remained took our time cleaning up while taking intermittent swim breaks, followed by margarita breaks, along with burger and cake and ice cream and dance breaks.

Gotta love a good after-party.

Dora's on to something with that whole "¡Lo Hicimos!" thing.

We did it, indeed.

Four years and counting...

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We came back to the house to find the AC had conked out on us. Thankfully, the day had cooled off some so that the indoor temp of 85 didn't feel a degree over 83.

Ah, it's the little things.

We had houseguests and I tried to assure them that this was not the norm and that sweating in your sleep is not a typical occurance when you come to visit us.

And then, of course, we woke up to everything in the freezer being melted. Ha!

When it rains, it pours.

But that was nothing that a gluttonous celebratory breakfast couldn't fix.

Hey, I felt like I earned it. Not only did I get back into Weight Watchers' good graces this week (yay for not having to pay!), but I also ran an 8K race on Saturday morning (yay for my fastest time yet!). I'm not sure that I completely leveled the scales, but it was something and this weekend is one of no-guilt-allowed. Tomorrow, I'm back on the wagon.

And both items are now fixed. Huzzah!

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For those that enjoy hearing more about the details, we offered sunglasses, water wings, leis, and flower hair clips as take-home items for all that were interested in such things. Finding luau items was pretty easy and I just added them up piece by piece from places like Oriental Trading and Party City. I was thrilled to find the Dora and Diego water wings at Family Dollar.



Also, anyone who was there? I probably have cute pics of your kid. Holla at me.

Encore!

We continue to stay busy over here, taking full advantage of the ushering in of summertime activities.

First, there was our first beach day yesterday.


It was a great time, thanks in part due to our meeting of another mom out there with her twin boys who happened to be very close in age to Playette. The kids really enjoyed one another and the other mom was of the more-awesome-than-I-am variety because she had an abundance of snacks. Playette even ate a half-sandwich she was offered. Which is amazing. She doesn't even eat sandwiches! At least not my sandwiches. Hmph.

Turns out that not only did one of the boys have Ds, but he also goes to Playette's school. He's in the morning class and she's in the afternoon. (well, sort of, but it's a holiday, so I refuse to think about the school sitch right now)

Anyway, FUN.

And since then, Miss Playette Keys has been entertaining me with her musical abilities. I figured I'd share a couple of her recent concerts with you.





My girl loves to sing. She's always singing something, whether it's a song on the radio or one of her own composition. Usual lyrics include: Mama, Lea, Daddy, night night, wash hands, let's go, etc.

Many, many thanks for Cate for her wonderful suggestion of the M&D Birthday Cake set. Cate always has the best toy ideas. Like the Alphabet Bus, also a huge hit in this house.

Today, I'm thinking that we may head to the neighborhood pool for a bit. I mean, if I have to wash this child's sandy head and deal with the dramatic hot mess that comes with that action, I need to make it really worth my time and get some chlorine all up in there, too.

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To all of the men and women who serve, including my very own BD, I'm proud of you today and every day.

Party All the Time

I was just sitting here thinking about all we did today and all that's yet to come. And then I started yawning because it makes me tired.

Playette had her trick-or-treating walk around with a bag and get snacks deposited therein "Spirit Day" equivalent today at preschool, followed by a costume parade at daycare this afternoon. We have SO MUCH CRAP in the house now. With even more to come. And I've been eating it. Along with copious amounts of pumpkin bread that I made today. But I still want more candy. I am weak.

Anyway. So tomorrow there's a party in the military housing community center. Those are usually good, so we'll go. We skipped the party in the other military neighborhood today. I just didn't have it in me to run from one end of town to the other.

We did end up stopping by the Navy Lodge though. They had a 40th Anniversary celebration that included cake, a bounce house, cake, cookies, hot dogs, cake, pumpkins, cotton candy, nachos, and cake.

Honestly? I didn't have any cake.

But I really wanted some.

Can you tell?

So I came home and stuffed my face with pumpkin bread again some more.

Whoopsie.

Ahem.

After the early afternoon party tomorrow, our neighbors on the next street are hosting a huge shindig for the kiddos. We'll go there, too. I mean, how can we not? They know how to throw a party. It lasts until "until" so you know it's gotta be good.

Sunday sounds like a nice day to sleep, doesn't it? Trick-or-treating is still kinda up in the air.

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The house is quiet so I started clicking around on the computer and came across some pictures of my Playette-ita. She was sooo teensy. I used to say that I could put her in my pocket. Cuteness, y'all.

I keep forgetting that I didn't blog that first year.

That was either the best or the worst decision. It's hard to say.

But what that means without question is that you missed out on Little Miss Pudge. And the clip on bows!

Wanna see?

Be thankful that my desktop is still out of commission. That's the one that has allll the pics on it and I'm sure that if I had access to the stash, you'd be inundated with Playette-ita images right about now.

I'm pretty sure all this nostalgia of late is due to a family member having a baby the other day. It just made me think back and realize how fast it all went. I mean, I remember when the new mama was Playette's age and it just seems so...whew. Like, really? How?

First Two Halloweens

Last Year

Today at breakfast:

FYI

The Great Pumpkin (Patch)

So, we did go to the field trip to the patch yesterday. Turns out, it was in the middle of flipping nowhere, down a street that I'd never, ever known existed, surrounded by lots and lots of produce-filled farmland.

It was awesome.


They had a corn maze and bounce houses and really big veggies.

There were chickens and pheasants and really loud honking geese.


There was also a dark walk through, punctuated with freaky scenes at every turn, that made me wish I had more than one flashlight and forced me to woman-up and press through after everyone had deserted us, me with a three-year-old wrapped around my neck like a fur stole, because I'm the mama and someone had to be brave up in there and I couldn't exactly let the other parents see me have to be rescued from crying in a dirt-filled corner by one of the staff, right?

At least Playette's shirt glowed in the dark. That helped a little by introducing some whimsy into the situation so that I wasn't completely obsessed with thoughts that we would never see daylight again.

Seriously? I don't know why they thought that preschoolers would be ok with that thing. It was mad scary, yo.

I didn't have too long to be freaked because after we got out, there was a group of people with Ds waiting to go in. That made me smile.

I also wondered where they were from. Their ages ranged and I really was curious about them. But, I just smiled and moved along to let Playette see the bunnies.

Some days, I wanna be all "DESIGNER GENES! PEEPS!" and then others? We just are. And they just are. And that's ok.

And just because I'm looking at some more of the pics and I cannot get over how big my baby girl has gotten, I'll share those here, too.






Unbelievable.

I'm tired just thinking about it.

Tomorrow begins the whirlwind of Halloween/Harvesty Goodness Pandemonium 2010.

Playette's preschool class is going to the pumpkin patch in the morning (my first field trip as a mom!) and then there are parties and parades and requests to wear costumes for the next several days.

And then there's Sunday. I figure that Playette is now old enough to start learning about the age old tradition of begging trick-or-treating, so we'll give that a try, too.

(If you watch the show Parenthood, maybe you'll remember the scene where they tried to teach Max about trick-or-treating. I had to laugh at that. I'm sure that if Playette could articulate it as well, she'd have a similar reaction.)

Oh, and her costume? Welll, I kinda lost momentum in that department. I'd see things I'd like and then they wouldn't have her size or were sold out or wouldn't get here in time, so we're going more abstract this year. No definitive character or concept. Unless you count glittery, tutu'd, winged, tiara'd 3-year-old as one of those.

If we make it to Monday in one piece, I'll count it all a success.

Day 1

Yesterday, when our house became Bowl Game Central, Playette and I dipped out for some mama-daughter time. As the time gets closer and closer for us to move, I feel like it's important to take full advantage of the benefits of our current hometown.

So, yesterday, we went to the beach. Awesome, right? So how come we never go?

I packed up the truck with the jog stroller, a plastic blanket (do those things have another name?), snacks, books, and the camera.

I don't know why we haven't been doing this the whole time! Playette had fun and was pretty worn out by the time we were heading home. I'll have to add this to the list of things we can do when we think there's nothing to do. Seriously. I don't know how many times a day/week/month we'll be sitting here, especially on the weekends, saying we have nothing to do. I should get some of those window markers and just make it super plain. Maybe then we'll take our own hints, ya think?

Tidings of Comfort and Joy

All We're Missing is an Olan Mills Stamp

We were trying to recreate a cheesy holiday shot, complete with sweaters, a (faux) fur throw, and a blazing fire in the background, but what we actually got was, well, this:









Flirting with her Auntie's beau. Check out the head toss. She's a pro.


Mama's Punkin' Unkin'.

And we're off!

This week is dedicated to the art of catching up.

So if you interested in 1/2 marathons, Disneyland, deliberately corny holiday pics, and/or the struggles of maintaining a two-year-old's hair, this is your week.

Don't say I never gave you nothing.

Today? The tree. I really didn't think anyone would want to see it. That's why I didn't post pics before. I mean, it's not anything you'd put in a magazine or anything. I just like it because...well, because it's mine I guess.

Tra-la!





And some of my favorite ornaments, just for fun.








No, really. That's all I've got today.

Seriously.