Train Table

Dan and I have been promising Alex a train table since just before his second birthday, but with the upcoming deployment we never got around to it.  We knew we wanted to make him one that would be stronger than the MDF/Particle board ones you can buy in the store.  I finally decided that if it was ever going to be made that I just needed to start it; if I waited for Dan to return I knew it would get put off even more with the baby's arrival.  I know Dan would have loved to be a part of it's construction, but I think he will enjoy it even more when he gets to play on it with Alex upon his return.

I started with making the base using stock oak and my Kreg pocket screw jig.  It went together easily, but took time since I had to do all this during Alex's naps on the weekends.  Next came the table top and bottom shelf.  I had the plywood cut down some for me and then I made the final cuts on our table saw being very careful to stand to the side of the wood in the event that it was kicked back.  I think the hardest part of this table was the finishing of it.  It is difficult when this is Seattle's rainy season with overcast skies, late sunrise, and early sunsets.  The lighting is not the best in our garage either, making it difficult to see the finish.

I think the table came together wonderfully in the end and I know Alex will love it!

Christmas Tree and Decorations

It is not the same this year with Dan being gone.  This is our first Christmas apart from each other and my first to have to get the tree on my own.  I thought about not even getting one, but this wonderful group of vendors got together and were providing free trees to active duty military in our area.  We got a beautiful 8' Fir tree.  Alex loved watching me decorate the tree and even added a little song to the occasion.

I couldn't stop with the tree and decided we needed a little something to decorate the outside of the house.  It is minimal, but I had to be sure that what went up could easily come down with me being 7 months pregnant.  Alex is fascinated with the Christmas lights this year and was so excited to see lights go up on our house; it's hard to tell from the picture, but the garland and wreaths are lit with white lights.  

Turkey Day

I awoke this morning wondering if we were going to make it out of the house.  The snow was coming down nonstop.  I went ahead with my Thanksgiving dinner preparations since it was supposed to stop snowing by afternoon.  Alex and I were going to have dinner at another Navy wife's house.  Since it was supposed to warm up a bit but then dip below freezing at night, we made plans to sleep over if necessary; the roads from our house to hers are pretty steep and scary at night if there is ice on the road.

By noon the snow had stopped and things were beginning to look like we just might be able to get out for dinner.  I was so happy; the thought of spending Thanksgiving alone at home was starting to look a little depressing.  We made it to our friend's house without any trouble and had a wonderful dinner followed by great conversation and the kids having fun playing.  Alex loves playing with Juliette "Juju" and they enjoyed playing in her kitchen and playhouse.

The evening was finished off with a wonderful football game of TAMU vs TU.  A&M kicked some butt as expected; I definitely see a bowl game in their future.  I wonder which one?  Cotton Bowl would be awesome!

Arctic Blast brings Snow and Ice

It's Monday morning and Thanksgiving is only days away.  I am in my office at my desk watching the first snow flakes beginning to fall.  Alex is at school and I am wondering what he is thinking as he sees these first flakes beginning to fall from his classroom window.  What I thought was just going to be a light fall of snow is now being predicted to be heavy snow fall with temperatures as low as the teens.  By late morning the flurries pick up and all I see is a sheet of white from the window.

I left a little early to pick Alex up from school as the roads were starting to look a little icy and the snow fall was heavy.  The evening reports were showing commuters into Seattle stuck in miles and miles of backups due to icy roads and accidents throughout.  I am so glad that Alex and I are in the comfort of our home.

I woke up Tuesday to find 3"-5" of snow.  The roads in our neighborhood are steep and covered with a mixture of ice and snow.  I decided to keep Alex at home since the steep drive out of the neighborhood appeared too much for this inexperienced driver.  Alex was fine with that and spent the morning watching movies and staring out at all the snow.  Just before lunch I took a break from work and bundled us both up for some fun in the snow.  I rigged up one of our laundry baskets to act as a sled for Alex.  He had soooo much fun!

I have tomorrow through Friday off from work and I am hoping that they clear the neighborhood roads so that I can get out and run some errands before Thanksgiving.

Pre-Thanksgiving Weekend

The weather her is definitely getting colder!  Temps are in the 30's with highs in the 40's.  I think the pregnancy is keeping me from feeling too terribly cold; the thermometer says 37 but it feels like 57 to me.  I have to keep that in mind when dressing Alex and make sure he is dressed warm enough.  Snow was predicted starting Friday night, but by Saturday morning we had none and it was absolutely gorgeous!

Too bad I spent the morning baking my family favorite "Granny Taylor" hot rolls for the officer spouses Thanksgiving potluck lunch that afternoon.  They sure turned out good and were a hit at the lunch, though!  The lunch was really nice and Alex had a lot of fun playing with all the other little boys that were there.  I enjoyed talking with the adults while the kiddos entertained themselves; something that is very precious to all the wives while the guys are deployed.

Ok, I hate pregnancy photos of myself, 

but everyone has been requesting them, 

so here you go.  Can you tell she is 

getting BIG and boy oh boy does she move!

Sunday morning we got a call from Dan; a great way to start the morning off.  After getting off the phone, I realized that it had started snowing.  It was short lived and melted shortly after, but it was really nice while it lasted!  I don't mind some snow, it's the ice that I despise.  I got some pics of the snow falling in front of the house, but by the time we were ready to go out and play in it, the snow was gone.  I have been told that this is supposed to be a COLD winter, so I am sure I will get another chance to get some of Alex playing in it.

We finished the day off with a birthday party for another spouse's 1yr old son.  Several of the wives that were at Saturday's lunch were at the birthday party, so it was a nice continuation of conversation.  By Sunday evening, the temps had dropped into the mid 30's again and were supposed to continue to drop to below freezing, so when we got home I decided it was time to shut off the water to the exterior faucets and wrap them.  Alex enjoyed watching the moon (full moon) while I did the work.  He has become fascinated with seeing the moon and loves the fact that the sun sets by 5pm and he can see it before going to bed.  I, on the other hand, hate that the sun starts to set at 4:30 and it makes you feel like you just lost about 2hrs of your day.

Alex being silly after we came in from winterizing the pipes.

Halloween

Well it has been a while since I last posted anything.  Things have been busy since Halloween weekend, which started off with Alex getting congested and me feeling under the weather.  I thought we might end up missing out on the festivities, but after spending the day vegging around the house, we felt well enough to go trick or treating.  This was Alex's first year to go trick or treating.  Last year he was just learning to walk, he was a late walker at 14 months, and it was raining.

After a few houses he began to really get into the whole concept of dressing up and going door to door and getting candy.  He is still not crazy about all the scary decor and was in awe at some of the costumes.  He had a fun time!

Look Dadda, I have candy!

We spent about an hour going door to door before returning home and handing out candy at our house.  Alex had almost half a bucket of candy, which was more than he could eat in a years time.  As I was handing out candy to the trick or treaters he began to panic that I was handing out his own candy.  I quickly showed him his bucket was far from reach in the kitchen and he settled down.  He must have had at least 4 pieces of candy that night; he was soo excited since we do not normally give him candy.  When he wasn't looking I raided his bucket for the candy I do not want him to have and added it to the bucket of candy I was handing out.  Stuff like nerds, taffy, caramels, sour heads, etc he is not capable of eating yet without them posing a chocking hazard.  I am sure he is fine with that so long as he gets to keep the chocolate candy and M&Ms.

The following weekend had a rocky start and had its ups and downs.  Thursday night, Alex got sick at dinner time.  Let's just say we both needed a warm shower afterwards and my carpet required steam cleaning.  I was fearful that he had a stomach virus and that I would miss my dr's appointment the following morning, but things did not seem to progress and he finished the night off eating about two dozen saltines.  The next morning he was feeling great and I went to my 21 week OB appointment.  Everything checked out great.  She is measuring spot on, has a great heartbeat, and is very active.

Saturday morning started off great.  We had a SOALA function to go to later that morning and Alex helped me get pancakes made while I was finishing up some Monkey bread to take with us.  He had so much fun pouring in the ingredients and mixing.  We headed out to the meeting, when I realized half way there that the meeting was a 1/2 hour later than I thought.  No worries, Dan called my cell phone that very moment and I pulled off into a parking lot to take the call.  Alex talked to Dan for a good while; this was surprising because he is just not at the age where he will talk on the phone for long.  After arriving at the meeting he began to get very clingy and would not socialize with the other children; unusual for him as well.  As the meeting got started, he climbed into my lap and fell asleep (very unusual as well).  I noticed that his head was beginning to feel extremely hot and he was now running a fever.  I knew a cold was brewing.  What I didn't know is that this cold would linger for nearly a week and would make getting sleep very challenging for me.  This weekend he was finally on the mend and we had a relatively good weekend.

My little helper.

Sick little Santa (this hat made him feel better)

Getting ready to go back to school after being home sick

for several days; he made sure he grabbed all his favorite 

things to take with.

All ready Mamma!

Is it Friday yet!

This week has been a rough one.  Alex has taken those terrible two tantrums and bouts of defiance to a whole new level this week and trying my every patience.  Remarkably my patience has lasted through them, but with all these hormones raging through my body from this pregnancy, he brought me to tears yesterday.  I was actually able to call Dan and he talked me through it; he is always good about that kind of stuff.  Today was better, only little melt downs here and there but nothing we couldn't quickly work through.

We were getting ready for bath time when Dan called.  He had 45 minutes between meetings and was able to talk to us for quite a while.  Alex's face lit up when he heard his voice.  He kept telling him "I miss you dadda."  Made my heart melt!  Bath time obviously got off to a late start.

This has been a very busy week and I am really looking forward to a less stressful day tomorrow; no work and Alex is at school.  This translates to tantrum free errands.

Is it a girl or a boy?

Friday was the day Dan and I have been so anxious for; it's the day that I had my ultrasound to determine if we were having a boy or a girl.  This whole week has been a crazy one with work deadlines and some unfortunate news in the family dealing with my father-in-law's health, so I really have not had a chance to get too excited before hand.  I dropped Alex off at school and headed over to the hospital.  I got checked in and received a call from Dan who was checking to see that everything was on schedule and when to call back to get the results.  Shortly after they got me ready the tech began with the brain, and then moved to the heart; deep down I wanted to tell him enough already, tell me what we are having!  I knew they had a progression of measurements, etc that they needed, so I tried my hardest to have patience.  Finally he got down to the legs and positioned a perfect bottom up view.  I was looking at two legs sitting indian style and a set of buttocks with nothing inbetween.  The tech said, "I think we have a girl."  I said, "are you sure, you sure it isn't just hiding."  He told me that he was going to move around and get some more measurements and he will come back for another look, but he was pretty confident based on her positioning that it was in fact a girl.  I was so giddy with excitement and so wanted to be sharing this with Dan.  I think he checked another 3 times for me just to make sure.  I am thrilled that we are having a little girl and was anxious to share the news with Dan.  After the appointment was done, I eventually got a call from Dan to share the news.  I am still a bit in disbelief that we are actually having a girl!

This weekend was supposed to be a cold, wet, and blustery weekend.  Saturday, Alex had a Fall Festival party at his school.  They had pumpkin carving, face painting, and art tables set up.  Alex dressed up in his Halloween costume, a flight suit that Dan recently sent him.  He got so many oohs and aahs from teachers as well as parents.  He was definitely adorable!  Despite the fact that the party was right during nap time, he had a really fun time.  What toddler wouldn't love stickers, drawing, stamps, and playdough?

Our little navigator.

Face Painting time; so serious and so still.

 Yeah, playdough time! 

 "What are you?"  Teletubby.  Tele who?

 Making a Halloween door hanger.

 Yummy pumpkin spice doughnuts.

 How much chocolate can I get on my face?

Sunday was a pretty uneventful day.  It rained all Saturday night and continued into the morning and the wind had really kicked up.  After church, we went to JoAnn's to start my search for the perfect little girl nursery fabrics.  Alex was having no part of this, so this trip was short lived.  The rest of the day was spent napping, doing laundry, and cleaning the house; not much to write about.

Dan, we really miss you and hope you get our care packages soon!

Fall is here

This weekend was a fun and busy one.  The weather was gorgeous; it was sunny, and (despite starting out in the low 50s) it warmed up to the mid 60s.  It was perfect weather for a trip to the pumpkin patch.  We headed out early, around 9am, to Craven Farms so we could beat the crowds.  We started off by getting some hot apple cider to warm up and some fresh kettle corn; something I have been craving.  It was really foggy in the valley, but that didn't stop us or Alex from wanting a hay ride.  He had been talking about that hay ride for days.  The hay ride goes around the pumpkin fields and then into the corn fields, winding here and there through scarecrow decorated clearings.  I don't think Alex's eyes ever saw the scarecrows; his eyes were fixated on that humungous tractor.  After the hay ride, we headed over to the pumpkin fields and picked out our pumpkin.  I think Alex had his eyes set on some larger ones, but Mamma helped convince him that the medium sized one was a good choice as well and one that I could actually manage to get back to the car.  Alex had a really fun time in the pumpkin fields, but by the time we were all set to go, Alex was covered in mud; Mommy forgot his rain boots.

Alex loved the kettle corn

 Here you go Dadda

 Our little pumpkin

 Alex liked the really big pumpkins

 Searching for the perfect pumpkin

 He felt the need to brush the dirt off every one

 Alex discovered the big ones make perfect seats

 ....and the little ones stacked make a great perch

That afternoon we got the front porch decorated for Fall and Halloween.  Alex had helped me pot some mums and while he was down for a nap, I put out the Halloween decorations.  He is not so keen on all the spiders, skulls, and monsters that he keeps seeing at the stores, so I knew he would probably not like this part of decorating.  

After getting all the halloween stuff up, I took him out to see it all and was surprised that he did not seem frightened by it at all.  He was very cautious not to get to close to any of it, though.  

Sunday was a day of errands and baking, but it was another gorgeous day, so sometime had to be spared for some backyard fun.  We are preparing another care package for Dan.  I baked zucchini bread and homemade brownies for him.  I always enjoy preparing his packages, especially when there is an upcoming holiday that you can incorporate into it.

During one of our errands, Alex got a new pair of Thomas sunglasses.  This is him sporting his new shades at home.  He doesn't like them over his eyes, so this is the only way he wears them.  Funny thing is, whenever we were outside, he was requesting them.  

Dan has been gone nearly 6 weeks, but it seems like it has been a lot longer.  I am sure the next 2-3 months will fly by with all the holidays.  USS Abraham Lincoln along with the rest of it's fleet has made their way through the Pacific Ocean and continuing through the Indian Ocean.  Last weekend they had a port visit in Malaysia, near Kuala Lumpur and he got a chance to get off the ship.

Petronas Towers

 Kuala Lumpur

 Petronas Towers at night 

(I love the moon right over the towers!)

This weekend USS Abraham Lincoln along with guided missile cruiser USS Cape St George made their way into the 5th fleet area of operations.  They will be providing support for coalition forces in Afghanistan, support for the drawdown of forces in Iraq, as well as to support existing maritime security operations.  It's a huge area of responsibility and if he thought he was busy already, things are about to get even busier.  

Dan we love you and miss you!  Alex and I both look forward to going to the pumpkin patch with you next Fall.