end of the week

We have been so busy this week with work that this is the first time I've been able to post. It's been fairly chilly for Hawaii so we haven't been going to swim lessons but rather putting on sweaters and pants and heading to the playground. Yes, we wear sweaters when the temperature dips below 70. Makaela has done some funny things this week though. Going back to the mimicking, she started blowing on her food before she ate it. Matt and I were eating hot food, so we were blowing on the food before we ate it and she started doing the same (although her food wasn't hot). She also started saying "no, no, no" which is what I tell her. She has been the clean up guru lately...she picks up things and puts them in there place but expects a very enthusiastic cheering and clapping. A few weeks ago I was scolding her for trying to eat the dog food, but I caught her in the dog food again. This time she wasn't trying to eat it though, she was hand feeding the dogs. Seriously, my dogs are spoiled, but now that they can lay down and get hand fed, we are taking this to a whole new level. My dogs are not "man's best friend", but rather "Makaela's best friend".

sunday best

We started off today with heading to church and Makaela was so funny. She mimicked everyone and started shaking hands when it was time to share "peace" with everyone. Then we headed to Hailey's 3rd B-day. It seems like yesterday that Hailey was an infant and now she is such a little lady. It reminds me how quickly kids mature. After the party, Matt and I were watching Makaela and the little things she was doing were such epiphanies on how quickly she is growing. She is cleaning up her messes, carrying her bags to the car, maneuvering the playground steps and slides by herself and shoving mom and dad away when she is sure she's "got it". She was even laughing at the adults' jokes today at dinner. Of course she had no idea what we were saying, but she is so desperate to fit in with the big people, it's comical. She was actually wearing a 5T shirt today as a dress today... and she is only 1 1/2. The adorable outfit was a Valentine's gift from her grandma.

heading back to work and daycare

We headed back to school and daycare after a nice 3 day weekend and it was tough. It seems like a 3 day weekend would be great, but it totally disturbs the schedule. Makaela woke up at 2:30 and 5:40am- totally unlike her which made today trying for the both of us. Tired cranky ladies, oh yeah. Once I got to work, I got an email about a medicine recall and as a new mom, of course, I got a little panicky and did a mental checklist of all the medicines I needed to throw out once I got home. Before becoming a mom, I would have just poopooed the neurotic emails about the risky stuff, but now...not so much. Just in case you are wondering what is being recalled, it's phenylpropanolamine which is found in alkaseltzer, contac, dimetapp, etc. Scary! yeah, I'm neurotic! Seriously, not much is safe anymore...well according to the media.

update on move info

Matt got the update on the openings for his transfer. On the list is Virginia (which they won't send us because supposedly they don't move West coasters to the East coast); San Diego- the Boxer, a small ship; Atsugi, Japan and "the Global War on Terror" aka...Iraq or Afganistan. We are not sold on anything, so he is waiting to see what next month's list brings forth. By next month though, he needs to decide. We are still weighing options. While we wouldn't mind going to San Diego, that would mean many more ship cruises (6-8 months gone every other year) and we don't want him away from the family that much.

valentine's day

Here is a picture of Makaela's valentine. That's little Colin planting a big one on my little angel. Lucky for dad, she played shy. Matt had to work Valentine's night, so we went out to celebrate on Friday. This has been by far, the funniest Valentine's day yet...and perhaps the most pathetic. It started off great; I had gotten a babysitter (thanks Monica!), we got all dressed up and planned for a nice romantic dinner, maybe hit some of our old stomping grounds and just enjoy our pre-Valentine's. We headed to Ruth's Chris and opted for the Valentine's menu and a few glasses of wine. Halfway through the night, we started yawning and it just got worse as we ate more. After dinner, I turned to Matt and said we needed to nix the idea of heading out to a bar or club because I was exhausted. He admitted the same, but we were disappointed that we were all dressed up and too tired to go anywhere. So, we had this great idea to take a cat nap in the car. Matt set his cell phone's alarm clock and we dozed off. I awoke to Matt gasping. I realized that it 12:30 in the morning. Our little cat nap turned into full blown slumber. I was a bit horrified that 1) Monica was still watching Makaela and 2) we wasted our Valentine's night sleeping. Monica thought we were party animals hanging out all night, yet we were just two extremely exhausted parents. It's funny that the one night we don't have to take care of our child, instead of going out and enjoying each other, we enjoyed sleep instead.

new info

Matt just found out that the first round of transfer postings comes out on Thursday, meaning that we may be able to make our choice of where we are moving next by the end of the week. No stress huh! Got some really cute pics of Makaela today for Valentine's day cards.

thoughts on motherhood

Makaela and I met up with a few friends and their babies for a pool day and it's so odd how quickly things change. I didn't get to sunbathe, didn't get to read, didn't even get to swim. As I envied all childless sunbathers for being able to escape into a book totally uninterrupted, I chased a dancing, little yellow-polka-dot-bikini-ed munchkin around the pool perimeter. Tonight (a Saturday night) I spent folding baby clothes and doing grad homework (that I can't possibly get done during the day)- a far cry from what I would have been doing on a Saturday night before motherhood. I guess once motherhood begins, your previous life ends...this is not a bad thing, just different. When you can actually act out your previous life- those few stolen moments of uninhibited selfishness, you appreciate those moments more. When you see your child do something new, you appreciate the potential that lies in something so precious and young. And when your child goes to sleep, you appreciate the quiet moments you have by yourself; something that would have never happened pre-motherhood because the speakers in the bar were too damn loud.

swim lessons today

Today we had swim lessons and it was a beautiful day to head to the pool. Makaela seemed really excited when we headed in and was greeted by all her little playmates. She did really well, although she has not been "blowin her bubbles" like she should be. Makaela apparently likes the saline water in the pool because instead of blowing bubbles, she grabs a gulp full and then when she takes her head out of the water, she spouts out all the water. She looks like one of those cherubic water fountains. While we were waiting for our turn to swim through the hula hoop, she keep practicing swimming through. We all sing a song, so once Makaela heard the song cue, she would throw herself forward and practice her swim. She is turning into a little fish.