Well, the momcation is over (isn’t that word terrible? It ranks up there with preggers. I HATE that word.) and I think today my brain is starting to function in the correct time zone again. I got home Tuesday night where I was greeted by an apprehensive Mackenzie, a bouquet-of-flowers-holding Nathan and PC.  My wonderful (seriously, wonderful) husband took Wednesday off as well so that I wasn’t “thrown” back into being a mom  the next day after flying, being jet lagged etc. He started my laundry for me, he made all the meals yesterday and he told me he wished he could stay home longer. I kid you not. I figured after being a single parent for a week not only would PC have a greater appreciation for being a single/stay at home parent, but he’d be eager to get back to work. Pow!  (that was the sound of my theory blowing up in my face.) He told me he loved getting to be a SAHD and was decidedly not eager to get back to work.

Tomorrow is Nathan’s last day of school and then its me up against the two of them for the rest of the summer. Oh how I wish we were spending the summer back in the States, bouncing between people we love. When I worked at the bank I had a Russian friend Katya who told me her parents would send her to her grandparents every summer growing up. She then proceeded to send her daughter back to Russia every summer in the same manner. I thought she was crazy…..crazy Russian (she’d also swap shoes with me at work and one day just gave me her cute Banana Republic sandals. Incidentally I wore said sandals to Ashley’s shower last weekend so that swap worked out well for me, but, I digress). Who “summers” like that? Evidently, I’d like to.  The summer of 2007 and 2009 were spent sort of galavanting in the states, mostly in Iowa and the farther I get from Iowa and the longer Im away, the more I HEART it there. Such a great place for kids and there is something sort of peaceful and simple about the rolling hills and rows of corn as far as the eye can see. And of course there is Colorado. And Colorado is really “home” for us and if I HEART Iowa then I double HEART Colorado. Its hard for me to talk about and I try not to think about it too much because there will always be a Colorado shaped hole in my heart.

But, there will be no “summering” anywhere this summer except on this little island. So, today I need to finish unpacking and get back on top of things. Vacation is over. I need to make dr. appts and dentist appts and bake cookies for Nathan’s school for tomorrow and go into work and finish up some projects I left half done for the gift shop. I need to download the pictures off my camera and tell you all about my week with Ashley! (or Ashaley as Nathan calls her) and my brother! I need to post my blog about packing! I need to tell you about how I got to go on my brother’s submarine and how you’ll have a whole new appreciation for the military members that do that! Wheew. Yes, vacation is definitely over, but its good to be home. So, are you “summering” anywhere or what do your summer plans include?

Filed under: Colorado and Mountains Make Me Happy, Iowa and Corn Make Me Happy, fancy backpack

Im actually almost too embarrassed to own up to this but PC got home from the hospital around noon. The rest of the day was uneventful. We put the kids to bed. We watched TV. We decided to go to bed since we didn’t sleep well the night before.

As we start to doze off Nathan starts audibly thrashing around in his bed. He’s kind of a loud sleeper so sometimes we just have to go roll him over or make sure he’s not rolled up in a blanket. He keeps thrashing and that turns into moaning and about 30 seconds later it turns into all out screaming. PC goes in. He comes back. He tells me Nathan’s ear hurts. I shit you not. We gave him motrin and insisted he just go back to bed. He said his ear hurt too bad. I put my clothes back on and took him to the Emergency Room. Do you know they almost know us by name in there? I mean, the ER used to be a place you’d hope you never have to visit. It doesn’t even phase me anymore that we go there at least monthly. Sometimes weekly, sometimes multiple times a week, heck- a day.

Let me assure you that at midnight the ER was the last place I wanted to be. In the car Nathan told me he needed some Gatorade (gatorade is reserved for sickness around here). I whipped around in the car and told him, “you have no idea how upset I will be if this trip to the hospital is just because you want some gatorade. TELL ME its not.” Turns out it wasn’t (another gold star on the parenting award chart for me) and Nathan had both an inner and outer ear infection. He’s got more antibiotics, ear drops and, a little something special this week- liquid Vicoden: as needed for severe pain. We’re just like a full fledged apothecary over here.

Tonsils, Adenoids, tubes. We’re coming for you. I cannot keep this grueling pace up for much longer.

Tonight I was busy making notes for PC. And let me be clear- PC is a wonderful, wonderful husband and father. I have complete faith that he will do fantastic taking care of the kids, he is and always has been a very hands on dad so this isn’t some foreign mission he’s getting sent on. In fact Im fairly sure Im going to get back and he’s going to say how easy everything was, and why do I think being a stay at home parent is so hard? So, given that – I have to razz him a little.

I present: kitchen notes.

notice I had to double check the spelling of raccoon. Two c’s two o’s. I was right.

Filed under: Is it Tuberculosis? Yep., Is it an ear infection? Yep., Is it pneumonia? Yep., Is it strep? Yep., Weekly trip to the ER.

Uncle.

The very short version of the story is that PC has to get a PPD (tuberculosis) test every year. This year he tested positive for exposure. Because of the holiday all the clinics we’re closed and he went to the ER once he got the result. And because the ER doctors don’t routinely deal in TB he was admitted to the hospital. We didn’t know whether or not it was active or latent TB so last night was a scary, restless, sleepless night for both of us.

The end result is: its latent TB, he has to be on antibiotics for 9months, he’s not (and never has been) contagious, he got to come home today and I still get to go on my trip. The great irony in all of this is he’s traveled to many countries where TB is endemic– The Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Korea (?) and never had a problem. He got it sometime between last spring and this spring and while we did go to Hong Kong and Singapore, the only places he’s been is back to the states multiple times for work. Sick Americans. How about EVERYONE COVER THEIR MOUTH WHEN THEY COUGH and keep their TB to themselves. This isn’t the 1890’s folks. Enough of the spreading of old world diseases.

Filed under: Is it Tuberculosis? Yep., Is it pneumonia? Yep., Is it strep? Yep.

This morning I went to the dentist to have my teeth cleaned. Since it was a 7am appt PC dropped Nathan off at school and we were going to swap Mackenzie at work. I called when I was finished to let him know I was on my way and he informed me “they were just leaving because Mackenzie had an accident. She fell and broke part of her front tooth.” [sinking heart feeling].

Yes, sure enough she did and it wasn’t just like a small chip, it was a sizable portion of her tooth. I called the dentist and asked if we could come back, they saw her briefly and basically told us we needed to see the pediatric dentist. There is currently only one Navy pediatric dentist on the island and he happened to be on one of the northern bases today, and with it being the holiday weekend it was either schlep up there or wait until next Wed. I didn’t feel comfortable with that so we picked up Nathan, drove 45 minutes up there and, much like our x-ray experience, tried to coax her into cooperating. The end result is that they filed down the sharp edge and now basically we just wait. Great. And you’re wondering why Im telling you all of this.

This was my very long winded way of telling you that while we were at the dentist they had a bunch of toys all around the room and one of them was an Alex the Lion (from Madagascar) happy meal toy and I remembered that I FAILED to mention that in my post that I always get a few new toys or “new to them toys”. Much of my great! advice! depends on the age of your ankle biters but I bought Mackenzie a bunch of happy meal type toys from the thrift store. I figure if I get stuff from the thrift store its relatively disposable and I wont be sad if it gets lost. For her toys I ran them through the dishwasher and they were ready for her to chew on. For Nathan it depends on what he is into. Often I’ll get him a few airplanes, I wrap them to a) keep them under cover and b) make it more fun/more of a reward for good behavior. Now that he is older some of the novelty has worn off but it worked great when he was 2-3. I try and get things at the 100Y store (and I had a bunch of great stuff from you guys from all those care packages!) Items that have been given the kid-stamp-of-approval in the past:
-these little matchbox size puzzles (these are great for in your purse too- they are so teeny and cute and keep hands busy (Im all for keeping little hands busy. That way I don’t have to be the entertainment committee).
-sticker books, either cheap ones from 100 store or I bought this one thinking, ha, the mother of all sticker books and Nathan could sort of take it or leave it.
-matchbox cars, (this airplane set kept him busy for HOURS)
-flashlight
-pipecleaners
-pop up post it notes

Filed under: Travel, fancy backpack

*There might be some typos in here. Its 9:30 and I don’t have it in me to go through and fix them tonight. I went running today and (sadly) Im spent (I haven’t even watched LOST yet!)

Im a big fan of the ziptop clear bags and before a trip I sit down with a sharpie and my box of bags. With my box of bags I create the following:

1) Everyone gets an extra outfit in a ziploc bag. Including mom (I’ve been pooped on enough to know I want a spare outfit on a plane). The kids also have spare nana/ling lings in theirs. I label with their names and stuff at the bottom of my backpack. These outfits are almost always needed, and by having them bagged it allows for whatever accident occured necessitating the clean outfit (potty/barf/spill) to be deposited back into the ziplock bag.

2) a bag labeled ‘mealtime’. This bag includes a few bendy straws, disposable bibs, child take-n-toss silverware, a couple clothespins (to clip open bags shut) as well as a few paper towels that have been neatly folded up so I can quickly grab one at a time. I also bring a small (teeny- like smaller than a hotel shampoo bottle) bottle of dishsoap (this is for in the hotel, not the plane, obviously)- this is critical when traveling with sippy cups, water bottles, snack bowls etc. With the sippy cups I take the valve out, put it in the cup, fill with hot soapy water, put the lid on and shake shake shake (I mean, bringing a dish brush would be over the top, no?). I figure this does a relatively good job of getting the valve clean (as well as the cup). Lay them out on a hand towel and they’ll be dry by morning.

3) A bag labeled snacks. Im all about pre-packaged when traveling. Boxes of raisins, granola bars, yogurt covered raisins, individual bags of goldfish. I like the raisins and because they keep little fingers busy digging them out of the box and if it falls on the floor its minimal mess/cleanup (unlike smashed goldfish crackers). Small packages of cereal are good too because they come in a ‘bowl’ keep fingers busy and are less messy than say, ritz crackers that just smash and leave crumbs everywhere. I even stoop so low as to buy my children lunchables as long as I know they will be consumed shortly (out of the fridge). There is some novelty in assembling the fake cheese, starchy crackers and high sodium ham. Since they come in an organized tray its easy to eat without them being dumped over. And I figure its at least a little cleaner than handing them a sandwich and then having them put it on the dirty* tray table (“even though I told you to PUT IT ON THE NAPKIN”). I always bring a few ace in the hole treats too– i like the little mini M&M containers (see also: keeps fingers busy), little individual packs of oreos etc. I do bring fruit (grapes travel well, sliced apple with lemon juice etc) but its always a problem of remembering to dump them when you get to another country so I don’t bring a whole lot. My dad is a big fan of bringing PBJ’s on trips because they are cheap and keep for a long time. The problem is Kiki isn’t onto PB yet and Nathan doesn’t like it so, I do bring them for PC and I, but meh, Im sort of indifferent. And, while we’re on the topic of food, generally the food required for this family to travel more than 5 minutes is significant so I bring a separate “food bag” which is this lame Marine Corps Association (or something) bag–you know, a tacky freebie but I like it because it zips on the top so all our crap stays in there. In addition to the “mealtime” zipper bag, and the snack bag I also throw in an old dishtowel, some extra zip bags, a grocery bag for trash, and some plastic bowls/disposable tupperware (WITH LIDS) for holding snacks (I have one that has the suction bottom which works well for people that are in the ‘throw my food on the floor’ stage of life. These also work well in the destination phase of the trip. We usually stop by a grocery store and buy snack food and we can just portion it out into tupperware containers while we’re out and about.

*dirty is all relative of course, as you see below I disinfect our entire area

4) A bag labled Meds. Given that when we fly it often involves an overnight flight I carry a small drugstore with me. Childrens motrin, infant tylenol (well, used to, not so much infant anymore) dimetapp for plugged noses/cough/allergies. Pepto and tums for upset tummys. Saline spray, afrin, sudafed because trust me- there is nothing worse than flying when you are severely congested. Ok, well maybe barfing would be worse but, not by much. Bandaids and neosporin and alcohol wipes. I used to carry eye drops (I like the single serve ones Bauch and Lomb make) but I used them so infrequently and they would always expire so, meh, I guess I’ve stopped with those. Good if you are a contact wearer though. Oh- and a thermometer– never know when someone is going to spike a fever at 30,000 feet.

5) A bag labeled Clean. Oh yes, laugh if you will. In this bag I have hand sanitizer, antibacterial wipes, the little soap papers, and most importantly, a travel pack of Clorox wipes. The clorox wipes I began carrying after our trip to Hawaii where, within about 10 hours of arriving Nathan got the stomach flu to end all stomach flu’s. For five days- FIVE he puked. We had to take him to the ER he was so sick. Oh- and this was over Christmas too. Never again will I allow my children to sit in the airplane seat before I have completed a full cleaning regimen. As soon as we get to our row PC gets busy buckling carseats and I start wiping. Tray tables, seatbelts, armrests, tv screens, remotes, phones, lights. Anything they could possibly touch or lick? I wipe it down.

In my backpack I take:
-Pashmina. I had some really nice saris PC got me in Bangladesh that I can’t find anywhere (Im afraid the realization that I must have inadvertantly? FOOLISHLY? gotten rid of them has sunk in) so Im back to the pashmina. Everyone should have one of these because it can be a wrap, a blanket, a pillow, a headdress (?? probably not), a privacy shade over the top of a fussy girl who refuses to sleep (you tuck it over their seat and up in the seat in front of you and voila- its like a canopy) and if you’re in the breastfeeding stage of life, it works quite perfectly as a nursing coverup.
-sweatshirt (perhaps redundant, but alas, better than shivering on a cold plane)
-blow up pillow. Im thinking of making a cover out of minky fabric for it– will I look lame or very smart and cozy?
-my laptop
-my spare outfit
-all the remaining bags listed above
-a set of headphones and my iphone
-wallet
-camera
-book/magazine/crossword –something for entertainment. Though, by entertainment I usually mean “entertaining the kids”
-pens, a sharpie marker and pencil and eraser (for crossword puzzles of course)
-gum
-water bottles for both kids (I prefer these to sippy cups)
-diapers, wipes, and changing pad. Enough for our travel time +1 day….in the event we get stranded (its happened) or diarrhea happens.
-tranq gun to put unruly kids to sleep

PCs backpack:
-work computer. The Marine Corps might come to a screeching halt if PC doesn’t have his laptop.
-stuff that makes our stuff work (spare batteries, cords, misc electronics,)

We take Mackenzie’s car seat most of the time. When we went to Hong Kong we didn’t because it was a short trip, short flight and she didn’t have a seat. We took it to Singapore knowing we wouldn’t use it in taxis but with an 8hr flight down there (and she had a seat- no way could I have her on my lap for 8hrs) it made sense so that she was ‘confined’ and could sleep. We have a car seat bag that works well (And we also tend to jam any erroneous items into it that didn’t get stuffed back into backpacks while trying to navigate the airport). We also have this tray (because the seat back trays can’t come down when she’s in her carseat) which….I could take it or leave it. Its handy because it keeps things from rolling away since it has raised sides, but, its kind of bulky and flimsy.

Kids carryon bags:
Mackenzie hasn’t rated her own bag yet, when we went home last summer she was 8mo and to Singapore she was just barely 1 so for her up to this point I have a—no not a clear ZIP TOP BAG–but an actual mesh bag. She’d get a handful of her favorite baby toys, a couple board books and thats it. She usually found the emergency instruction card in the seat back to be the most fascinating item anyway.

Nathan has a small wheeled backpack. In his bag we pack:
-spare outfit, including socks in case its cold on the plane
-nana (his blankie)
-travel pillow (got it off etsy; basically an airplane sized pillow with cute little airplane fabric pillowcase on it)
- headphones and iPod with tv shows/movies (an old one of ours, no, the 4yr old does not have his own)
-a few agreed upon toys (we organize these into small mesh bags we got at the 100Y store. This works well because if he wants to take a few toys while we’re out daytripping he just picks one of those to bring with– usually its a bag of airplanes.
-a few books, workbook and or coloring book.
-a ‘craft bag’ I made (I also take this with us out to dinner and to the dr. office) that is well stocked with crayons, stickers, small notepad paper, mini coloring books, a few random markers/pencils, postit paper, tape, some pictures I cut out of magazine’s/catalogs (ie cut out pictures of toys from the Pottery Barn Kids catalog) and he uses the tape to make a collage of whatever from those pictures I cutout (keeps him busy for awhile. Also, I’ve thought of bringing a glue stick but Im sure that would just be a security line hassle). Also- those foamie things that have sticky backs–those keep him busy too.

All of that goes up in the cabin with us. Seems like a lot doesn’t it? Depending on our destination and how big the load above is, we take a carryon suitcase with everyone’s swimsuits, toiletry kits, PJ’s and another spare outfit. This is because we’ve had our luggage lost enough times to know that, well, that sucks. Now with the 2oz security rule and the adults generally having to schlepp the younger people’s bags and dealing with carseats and strollers we no longer do the carryon suitcase but if there is room in our backpacks I’ll stuff in at least extra underwear and PJs for everyone, that way we can wash stuff in the sink and have it dry by morning without having to sleep naked.

If you have tips to share PLEASE do. We could make this the worlds greatest packing list if everyone throws in their ideas. Tomorrow we’ll discuss suitcase and toiletry bag packing. I’ve even got pictures. Stay tuned.

Filed under: Because I'm NICE like that, Travel, fancy backpack

Im working on a travel post for you all. Well, if Im being really honest its sort of more for me. I keep telling myself every time I pack Im going to make an OFFICIAL PACKING LIST of sorts. And then I get busy packing and think, oh I’ll do it when I get home (never) or I’ll do it on a random Tuesday (never), so, this time Im really doing it.

Filed under: Travel, fancy backpack

I couldn’t stand the pink anymore….if your RSS readers are broken again, please email me or leave a comment to let me know.

Filed under: Uncategorized

I just had another person compliment my writing, suggesting that I could have been a writer. Oh you guys, stop. Im blushing. Sometimes when I go back and read old entries I think: wow, did you really think that was funny? Lame. And Im not sure that anyone would actually pay money to read my quips and rants, but, somehow I’ve impressed a few of you.

But in addition to being the funny, witty and charming writer you heart Im [relatively] crafty too!

I discovered this Bloggers Quilt Festival thing and figured, what they hay.  The rules of engagement are that you: ” Share one quilt, and it’s story.  Why you made it, why it is special to you, what you learned about quilting/yourself while making it.”

So. Here goes.

After college my mom had a t-shirt quilt made for PC and I with all our CU and my sorority t-shirts. I liked the idea of it because there are so many memories associated with those old t-shirts. When PC joined the Marine Corps I figured someday I’d make one with all of our shirts we’ve collected along the way. Funny, the impetus for starting this project was not that I felt I had enough shirts or wanted to make it for a promotion or anything. It was this: we always fight over who gets lovingly tradeoff who gets the CU blanket because its the warmest snuggliest one for movie watching. Thus, t-shirt quilting commenced.

So the why I made it, I suppose we could say- out of marital necessity?  The why its special?  All these t-shirts that have been collected, they are markers….symbols (?) of this crazy military life we live. Many of them were ‘earned’ through separations, deployments, vacations, reminders of good times as well as a lot of difficult ones. Its kind of like the ribbons/medals PC wears on his uniform, so many of those shirts are a reminder of all we’ve been through, all we’ve accomplished, and the good things he/we’ve done. Im proud of those shirts, we’ve sacrificed a lot to get them.

Im still not quite finished with it. Its still full of safety pins at the moment and, Im sort of having to reacquaint myself with quilting, its been a looong time since I’ve made anything bigger than a baby blanket.

And lets see, what did I learn while making it: knit (t-shirt fabric) does all it can to be difficult to sew with, it curls and stretches and is just generally a pain to work with. Two layers of bamboo batting a warm blankie will make, but my sewing machine said ‘oh heeeeeell no’ when it came to machine quilting it, so, Im quilting it the old fashioned way (a la by hand). It might be done by Christmas. Ok, Valentines Day. Or Easter, definitely by Easter.

I had to dig through PC’s drawer to find one of the last remaining  green skivvy shirts that still had his name ‘branded’ on it from OCS (Officer Candidate School). When he was “Candidate DXXXX ” instead of “Captain DXXXX.” Sorry- I had to smear out our name in the pictures, I just can’t be having the ENTIRE internet knowing my name. The shirt next to it is from the time PC got deployed to Dhaka, Bangladesh on about 10 hours notice to go provide humanitarian relief when Cyclone Sidr hit in 2007. I also got a lot of beautiful jewelry from that trip, but, thats neither here nor there.

The t-shirt with all the aircraft was from our time at the MAG, time that at the time was not so fun, but looking back on it has a lot of good memories.  A shirt from Comm School, a pocket with the US MARINES tape sewn on- from the uniform he wears proudly everyday, and probably my favorite- the white shirt that says something in Burmese and under it it says, “Have you Been to Myanmar?” I don’t know why that cracks me up. It just does. That shirt was from when PC was deployed to Thailand for an exercise in April 2008, then Cyclone Nargis hit Burma/Myanmar and they were tasked with providing humanitarian relief for that. He was supposed to be home Mid May- we didn’t see him until July. AND I was pregnant. That was a rough one. You may remember what a cluster that was with with US offering help and it being refused so all our Navy ships sat in the water and all those Marines just waited. And all us families at home waited. And the end result was that basically we were able to deliver a few cases of water. PC got to go on one of those deliveries and they were allowed to go only as far as the airport terminal where he acquired this t-shirt.

I even included a piece of the Marine Green Silkies. Any of you fellow spouses can appreciate why 1) I was happy to cut them up and 2) why I laugh seeing it in there. The green silkies are running shorts. And by shorts I mean they are almost inappropriately short…..so short that I feel I should cover my eyes when a big group of Marines run by. Or maybe just cover one eye, because, Marines are kind of cute.

Filed under: Military Life

Stop the presses. There was a second day of sun this week. I love it when the weather man is wrong. I called the Capt. and told him he needed to play hooky. Trust me taxpayers– you get MORE than your money’s worth out of him, cutting out early is well deserved. He came home at two, we woke Mackenzie up from her nap and off we went. Great first beach day of the year.

Our favorite- Sunset Beach

Self-portrait

this little girl is fearless around the water. She learned the hard way, multiple times, the ocean is salt water and we don't drink it.

....and fun was had by all.

Filed under: Things I like, This Is My Life

The month of May in Okinawa tends to vacillate between rain and pouring rain. Its such a long depressing month that when June 1 rolls around and literally overnight we go from rain to oppressive heat and humidity you don’t even care– as long as there is actually sunshine you seem to care less about the fact that you start sweating as soon as you leave your house.

Today, we got a brief reprieve from the rain. And I do mean brief because the 5 day forecast is more clouds, rain, thunderstorms, and rain and more rain. So, we took full advantage of our one sunny day.

Filed under: Things I like, This Is My Life