The Daddy Countdown

Makaela's counselor had her create a Daddy countdown poster to help her to visualize how long it will be until Matt returns. Since Makaela told Carletta about all the ice cream she ate with Matt in Dallas, the poster is an ice themed one. For the next four months, I have to take Makaela out for an ice cream date and then she gets to add a paper ice cream scoop to the poster. By the time she has 4 scoops, Matt should be home. Carletta asked Makaela to decorate each side with things the family members like and I had to giggle at some of them.

Makaela likes to draw, likes birthday cakes and presents.

Mia likes to watch TV and likes to play with toys

Daddy likes to use his computer and eat chips and guacamole (the feathers were the food)

And I love to cook and go to the park (humm, why is it that the things I love to do involve her)

Makaela's Whoppers

Makaela started a new classroom when we returned to Oahu. About a week later, I walked in with Mia and Ms. Dana (the new teacher) asked if I was babysitting. I told her no and she said, "Oh, I thought your daughter was older." and then she looked at my stomach and she, "but you're not..." I immediately interrupted her and told her that I was not pregnant. She smiled pleasantly, but still looked confused. When I gathered all of Makaela's art work for the week, I understood why the teacher was baffled. The picture above (sorry, I can't seem to rotate it) shows our family has having three children and there were many pictures like this. When I asked her what this was about, Makaela said, "This is daddy, this is me, this is you, this is Mia and this is my baby brother." When I told her that we didn't have a baby brother, she told me that she was getting a baby brother when Mia turns 1. Funny girl!

Playing with the Big Girls

I caught Mia playing with Makaela and Olivia today. While they were pretending to cook, no one told Mia that she couldn't eat the pretend food :-)

We pulled out the playdough, but after finding some in Mia's mouth, it was only a big girl activity.

Mia did decide she was going to help in the clean up process though. What a big girl!

Celebrating Makenzie

We headed to Makenzie's first birthday today. It's hard to believe she is already one! Even though Makaela had been waiting for this day all week, she was exhausted and was a bit cranky

when we got there. She changed her tune when the cupcakes came out though.

We caught Zack in some funny situations that warranted a few blackmail pictures :-)

Mia had a great time climbing trees with Uncle Brian and hanging out with Alex.

Girl time- they are all getting so big!

First Hair Cut

Mia has had a long piece of hair that is just a bit odd. It was her fine baby hair but the other baby hair has been fallen out while this one strand has stayed put. I have dubbed it Mia's mini rat-tail and it was time I chopped it off. Her rat-tail is now taped in her baby book and she has a much smoother and even hairdo.

Reading Daddy's Story

I caught Makaela reading the story Over there that Matt had read to her our last day in Dallas. I tried to get some of it on video, but she realized what I was doing. It was so touching watching her read it to herself when she didn't realize anyone was looking. It was another reminder of how much she misses her daddy.

Over Too Soon

Our week in Dallas flew by and before we knew it, it was time to leave. PopPop and Grammy

drove back to Dallas to see us one more time (and visit with Grandpa Bob) so we got to have a nice breakfast with them.

Makaela took it fairly well. Matt read her a book called Over There that her counselor gave us to prepare for the separation. The book was about what Daddy does "over there".

Of course she wanted Daddy to fly home with her, but she had a new movie to watch on the plane so that kind of distracted her. We also made sure we played at the Dallas airport and stayed busy so we didn't think about leaving Daddy too much. We are just praying that the next four months fly by

The Ducotes!!

Again, we were trying to take advantage of being in Texas as a way to see all our friends, so we

contacted the Ducotes. They recently moved to Houston (about 4 hours away from Dallas), so Lisa found a waterpark for us to meet up at in Waco. The place was great. With the heat, we really needed a place to stay cool. The pools had water features like slides and fountains for

Makaela to play in and a small toddler area for Joseph and Mia to crawl around in. It was so great to see Joseph and Mia together. The two were babbling to each other and took turns trying to pull the others' hair. It was great.

After the water park, we headed out to Cracker Barrel after getting lost in downtown Waco and then getting spun around on the Texas turnabouts. It was a really cute place and I found out that both Mia and myself love chicken n dumplins. Poor Joseph ended up choking on Mia's stars and losing half hid dinner, but the boy is all smiles and it didn't seem to upset him at all (wish we could say the same for the adults).

Then as we were talking about Mia's blowout in the Rainforest Cafe and laughing about Matt's shirt being chucked, I went to go pick up Mia to change her diaper before the car ride home and found myself in the same situation. To make matters worse, we had left the wipes in the car! Luckily Lisa was there to save us with her supply. Matt was threatening to buy me the ugliest shirt he could find (and if you know Cracker Barrel and the bedazzled shirts with deer and ducks on the, I was scared) so I just walked out in my undershirt. There were lots of laughs after that incident.

It was sad to say bye to the Ducotes, but once we move back East, we'll be heading to

houston for visits.

Dueling Piano Bars

Matt and I got a big date night while we were in Dallas thanks to Grammy (we had a few other adult dinners too, but this night Grammy got the girls for the long haul). We headed out to dinner and then decided to walk to a local bar. Luckily there was a dueling bar around the corner and I just love my piano bars!! Matt scored seats almost immediately even though the place was packed (it pays to be tall and have a view). We sang, drank and had a great time. I requested a song for Matt (something very patriotic and then switch to something funny like "Friends in Low Places") and mentioned that he was home on R & R. Well, the piano player ended up Matt and introducing him to the crowd and then calling up all the military people in the crowd and sang "Proud to be an American". The stage was packed with people and the bar bought them all a round. Later, as we were leaving, the piano player noticed us get up and he told the crowd to make sure they wish him luck as Matt left the room and so many people stopped to shake his hand, hug him or thank him. I was so touched and proud. Dallas really loves their military!

Reunions and Firsts

When I found out we were heading to Dallas, I FBed my college friend Liz to let her know we would be in town. Liz came out to visit me in Hawaii during my second year here, but I haven't seen her since because she had moved to Dallas and we are never in NY at the same time. Because Dallas was so hot, she suggested hanging out at the Galleria (a mega mall in Dallas) and grabbing lunch. Unfortunately, we were so busy chatting we forgot to take a picture together.

As we were driving in I saw an American Girl store with hoards of moms and little girls clutching American Girl bags. I had an American Girl doll (molly), but it wasn't until I was 12 and could fully appreciate how very expensive these dolls were. It was supposed to be a collectible, but when I passed her down to my sister, she didn't exactly have the same appreciation I did. Anyway, I realized then that being a mom of two girls, I would eventually end up in that store. I vowed that we would not walk near that store while we were here b/c I wanted to delay the American Girl experience (and the amount of money lost) as long as possible.

We ate lunch at a great Mexican restaurant right next to the ice rink. Makaela was in heaven and couldn't wait to go skating. Matt and I just looked at each other praying that the other one would volunteer to go skating with her. Luckily I got off the hook because I was visiting with Liz. Makaela wasn't on the ice long though. She was very frustrated that she couldn't skate and twirl right off the bat. Ah, my little perfectionist.

Dad Time

It was great to have some cuddle time with Matt while we were in Dallas.

A Surprise at Rainforest Cafe

Since the girls were cooped up in the hotel and the hospital yesterday, we tried to do something fun out in Texas today. We headed to The Rainforest Cafe (my fav place!) because I thought Makaela and Mia would enjoy the animal decorations (and did I mention it's my favorite place). While we waited for a table, Makaela had no problem shopping in the restaurant's shop and Daddy so lovingly obliged to buy her things (let the spoiling begin). It was so nice to eat together as a family again and as we were packing up, Matt offered change Mia's diaper since he had "not it"ed me earlier that morning with a particularly foul diaper. Matt looks at me and asked, "Did you feed her something yellow?" Mia had exploded and we had no idea. She sat in her highchair in the middle of the Rainforest Cafe, smiling, happy as a pig in ----, literally. Matt took off to the restroom, holding Mia at an arms distance. When he returned, he simply said, "I need a new shirt...now". We ran off to Old Navy and Matt's first T shirt was quickly chucked.

In all the commotion, Makaela still got a chance to ride the toddler train in the mall. Of course she had to have me and Mia ride along too (and the spoiling continues).

9 months already!

Mia is already 9 months old and I know I say this every month, but it is going by too fast. She is scooting all around and gets into everything. She is still only saying "Dada" (and she says it in regards to everything) and still only has 2 teeth. This day in particular, she decided to stand on her own. She was doing well until she realized what she was doing and then dropped to the floor. I was so okay with that seeing as how I am not ready for her to stand by herself (walking is sure to come fairly shortly after and I am definitely not ready for that).

Family Time

Our second day in Dallas was spent catching up with the Great Grandparents. The reason why we were going to Dallas was to visit with Grandpa Miller before his surgery. The girls sure kept him busy. The way he was chasing around the girls and playing catch with Makaela, he certainly didn't let his impending surgery slow him down. I had to ask Makaela to stop playing because he was getting a bit winded and she turned around and said, "He's okay, right grandpa, you're okay?" He nodded yes and kept playing! What a trooper- I hope I have as much spunk and character as he does when my great grandchildren come to visit. We had plans to go out to dinner, but a broken truck had us get dinner at Braum's instead. Since Braum's is an ice cream parlor chain, Makaela didn't mind one bit...neither did I.

Reunion

Matt got a special R & R to see his grandfather who was undergoing surgery and we took advantage of his visit as well. It was pretty last minute, but I booked flights to Dallas so we could all meet up. Of course, I had to take off the first week of school (again), but it was worth it. Makaela has been having some issues with Matt's absence. She really misses him and doesn't understand why he needs to work so much. She has been seeing a counselor on base about this, so when we found out about the R & R, we thought it was just what Makaela needed. We didn't tell Makaela that Matt was going to be in Dallas (just in case something happened last minute and he couldn't get away from Iraq) and she thought we were just going to see the grandparents. The counselor did warn me that some kids shy away at seeing the deployed parent again, so on the last leg of our trip, I told her that Grammy was bringing her a surprise. When she guessed a Barbie movie, I thought I needed to narrow down the guessing, so I told her it was a person. At first she said, "Is it you?" and then realized that was silly since I was sitting right next to her. Then she said, "Is it my daddy?" I thought, "Damn, this girl is good". I just told her that we would have to wait and see. When she did see Matt, she said, "I knew it was going to be you"- melt my heart! I apologize for shooting the video from behind but between carrying Mia, a backpack, a Dora backpack and walking down steps while holding a camera, I'm lucky I got this. Notice the group of young ladies at the foot of the stairs. Matt had a mini fan club. When we finally got downstairs, they all started applauding.