Santa's Little Helper

Bragging About My Children

My most genius of a daughter has learned recognition! As in when we tell her "Take this to Daddy," she does! Or, "Where is Gayla?" She would run over and throw herself on Gayla's knees. Lastly, with "Where are The Babies?" she runs over and lays her head on them, giving them some lovin'. Talk about adorable!

She has also learned to say "Bay-bees." She wakes up every morning and talks about the "Bay-bees." (she speaks about them in baby babble that is) She points to them, talks to them, and pats them (or if you rather, beats them) on the back or head. She loves her puppy doggies!

The Babies have taken a liking to playing with her, or sometimes simply tolerating her. Cricket has begun to enjoy interacting with Kyra by chewing on her legs. Bishop tries the same kind of play but chews a little too hard. Cricket nibbles and slobbers and Kyra kicks and giggles incessantly. Bishop lightly chews and Kyra starts giggling, but it quickly turns into painful fussing. Poor Bishop, he tries really hard to be easy with her, he just doesn't understand what he's doing wrong. He does however, let Kyra grab a hold of his tail while he and Cricket are playing. He'll drag her all around the house, as she stumbles to keep up and laughs the whole way. He looking behind once in a while to see if she's still there, gives her a lick, and continues playing with Cricket.

I love all that she does and learns. It is so fun to watch. I'm still rather sad to see her grow up.

And The Babies. I'm so proud of them. For a couple of dogs who will bark, threaten and can make a stranger cower in their tracks... they sure are some of the most gentle dogs you will ever meet.

I love my children. All three of them!

My Holiday Weekend

The weekend went well. For those of you who missed it, if you click on the pictures on the side it will bring you to a page where you'll find in tiny print the words "view as slideshow". From there you can see a brief glimpse into our weekend.

The total mouths we fed was 11 adults and 2 toddlers. Best of all, not one of them complained! In fact, Jer has come home with stories from the Navy boys bragging about how good my cooking was. It went something along the lines of even though southern women are mouthy, they sure can cook!

I'm proud of myself. I am proud that I'm mouthy, and I'm proud that I can cook enough scrumptious food to send the small army that arrived, back home, fat and happy!


From my family to yours,
We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

A Blog Full of Exclamations

He's home! He's really really home! (if you could see me now you'd see that I'm doing my happy dance) After a month of being out to sea, my most favorite person in the world is home!

Wanna know what else is great today? Tomorrow, my sister and her husband get here! Hip hip hooray!

And, oh, it gets even better! Thanksgiving is in 2 days! That means lots and lots of cooking! Seriously, I make enough to feed a small army. Not to be forgotten, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! I don't ever remember watching the whole thing, but it has to be on the TV from beginning to end, because, well, its tradition!

And, yep, still gets better. Rachel's mama, and Dada, and aunt and future uncle are also attending my Thanksgiving dinner! Oh, and two bachelors from the boat. I feel bad that that they can't go home to their families, so I am gladly willing to cook for them too!

Oh, yippee yippee yea! That's 11 people coming over on Thursday! For those of you doing the math, that's 10 adults and 2 toddlers, that makes 11. Shut up, there is no mathematical error... you figure out the catch.

So, just to leave you with a bit of cuteness for the day, here's a picture of Kyra loving on Cricket.

1st Dentist Appointment

Kyra has had her first dentist appointment today. And she was a doll! That's right, my wonderful daughter, in her cute little pooh dress her aunt Gayla got her, and her cute little brown Mary Jane shoes, and her two cute little pigtails had her first dentist appointment! She sat in my lap and let the sweet dentist lady poke and prod in her mouth. She didn't scream when she had Vaseline swabbed over her lips, or some fluoride stuff painted on her teeth. All is great, her teeth are perfect!

Everyone gushed over how cute and well behaved she was. I know, I'm probably way too arrogant at how cute my child is. It makes a Mama proud to know she's got a future heart breaker on her hands! Better yet, a future heart breaker with manners!

As for the lady in the grocery store today who commented about her having a gap in her front teeth, thus making me paranoid that I'm gonna have to shell out lots of money for braces in the future. Well, she can kiss my ass because it is better for babies to have gap teeth and have room for their permanent teeth to come in then it is for babies to have them directly side by side and have no room for bigger teeth to grow but crooked. So nah!

Dirty Laundry

Today I taught the girls how to do the laundry. They were super excited to help a mama out. Both girls took turns putting the dirty clothes in the washer. (all though Rachel can't be seen, she was there helping too)

And when they were finished washing the clothes, they had nearly an hour of laughs playing in the basket and pushing it all around the house to torture the babies with.

Now I realize that Kyra won't always be so willing to help me do the laundry, so I had to document it. Later in her life I can pull out these pictures and embarrass her in front of her friends. I'll say, "Look Booger-Bear," because that is her nickname this month, "You used to love to help Mommy clean the house. Why is it I now have to fight you just to keep your room clean?"
This last picture was from last week... It'll be used as further evidence when Kyra's older that she does know how to use a Swiffer and thus can manage to at least keep the floor clean.

Isn't This What You'd Want to Wake-up with in the Morning?

This is what Kyra looks like when she wakes up at 7 o'clock in the morning. The snot and tears are because I let her cry for at least 10 minutes before I come save her. In the old house she'd usually sleep a little bit longer if we made her cry, no such luck anymore.

This is what I look like at 7:45 in the morning after (unsuccessfully) trying to get her to sleep just a little bit longer with Mama. I'm not sure what Kyra's facial expression is about, but don't I look scary?

You'd tell me the truth right? You'd tell me that I look more like a scary Ogre then a beautiful princess? Because my sweet, loving husband tells me that I'm beautiful. But I'm sure there's a clause in the Marriage Handbook that tells him to say these wonderful things to me. So tell me the truth, Jeremy's just working on getting the title of "the best husband in the world," right?

I Think Someone Turned on the Light

She is beginning to understand how things in life work! How exciting is this?!

~I offer her some food and if she doesn't want it, she shakes her head "no".
~I give her a toy and tell her to "go put it away" and she does! Then waits for me to clap and exclaim "Good job, Kyra!" Only then will she comes back for another toy to put away.
~When I hold up her shoes and socks, she sits down where she's at so that I can come over and put them on her feet.
~When I tell her "no", she promptly arches her back, sticks out her tummy, and makes the most pitiful face she could possibly muster in hopes of changing my mind. (oh, wait, maybe that's not such a great example)

These are only a few examples. There seems to be a new skill, a new understanding that she's learning every day. I'm so excited... I'm not talking to myself or a brick wall anymore! Yea!

You Know You're a Submariner's Wife If...

I stole this off of someones MySpace account. But I found it to be awful true and slightly humorous.

You know you're a submariner's wife if....
1. You use the words poopiesuit, duty, head, and cover in a non perverse way on a daily basis.
2. You lost count of the number of times you've been on board "The world's most powerful warship"
3. You know what time the mid watch is.
4. You've stayed awake during the mid watch to talk to your husband on the phone.
5. You've eaten on the mess deck and you know that pizza night is the only good night.
6. You've super glued, ironed on, or velcroed a patch onto a uniform.
7. You've lived in any or all of the following cities;Kingsland, GA, Groton, CT, Bangor, WA, Saratoga, NY
8. You think day after duty is a special holiday.
9. You know the difference between a mini day-so and a fast cruise.
10. You're husband has ever uttered the words "I'm not at liberty to say"
11. You can pack a sea bag in under 10 minutes.
12. You know what a TLD, LES, and TVQ are, but you don't know what the letters stand for.
13. You've stood on the beach despite snow, rain, or sand gnats to watch the boat pull in.
14. Anything less than 30 days doesn't really count as a patrol.
15. The other crew always get the better deal.
16. You know at least 10 guys you would consider friends of the family and yet you still don't know their first name.
17. You send emails religiously to a system you know is broken.
18. You expect an email everyday from a system you know is broken.
19. You've spent more months of your marriage apart than you have together.
20. You've actually grown to like sleeping alone.
21. You use a phone tree.
22. You have your ombudsman's number programed into your phone.
23. You know what "boat smell" is.
24. You know what month it changes from dress whites to dress blues and back again.
25. You give him a kiss and a smile when you drop him off at the turn styles

Great Days Like Today

She's back to normal. My Kyra Shea is back to her old cheerful, playful self. Mind you she's trying to get another cold. Another hack has started up again yesterday. But who cares, when she's back to normal?

You see, I mentioned a few days ago about how Kyra had been sick. Well she was a terror. An absolute terror. I'm quite certain that the fact she was sick in the middle of the move didn't help matters any. Not feeling well, new surroundings, Mommy's stressed without Daddy. It was horrible and I don't ever want to move with a sick baby again. Ever. As in never ever.

A few days ago she was running around the house, arms outstretched, making some noise with her mouth. She looked like she was mimicking an airplane. Who knows, maybe she was. But it was the first sign of play I had seen out of her in over a week. And today? She played all day. It was a great day. It was a happy day. I love days like today, it makes all the bad days worth it.

Stylin' Slippers

These are Rachel and Kyra's new slippers. I thought they were so cute I just had to show the rest of the world. What do you think? Do you have any cool shoes or slippers? Oh, come on... don't tell me these two 1 year old girls have better shoes then you do?!I thought you guys might also like to see the faces that go with these slippers. I tried to pose them in a chair together, but Kyra would rather get back down and go play.

Stupid People Should Be Banned From Society

That's right. And I mean it too. I can't stand a stupid person! And I'm talking about the people who are stupid by choice, not the ones who don't know better.

What brought this on today was this couple in one of my religious education classes. You see, last week I brought Kyra to class with me because she's been sick. As in snot so thick it clogged her nose, smoker's hack to the point she lost her voice, light fever, loss of appetite, wants to cuddle and sleep all day kind of sick. As miserable as she's been, I didn't want to take her to the nursery and get the rest of the children sick. So I took her to class with me where she quietly fell asleep in my lap within the first 5 minutes.

The Stupid People of the Day award goes to the jacka$$ couple in my class. They have an oh so cute and adorable 4 month old little boy. They walk into class with him today, and immediately inform me that thanks to me their precious boy has a snotty nose, and now he's too sick to go to the nursery. He's not, however, too sick to rattle toys at, coo at and otherwise not so quietly play with in class.

You see this kid might have had a snotty nose, I don't know. They never once wiped slimy boogers from his face and I didn't walk over to actually inspect him. But someone needs to inform them that between the months of October through March, every living breathing human being will, at some point in time, have a snot nose. This in no way shape or form qualifies a person to be "sick". Kyra and Rachel were both playing very happily in the nursery with snot running down their face. I think the 4 month old should have been with the rest of the children too, instead of distracting me from my studies.

Had I wanted to see their oh so cute little boy, I could have easily skipped class and played with him and the rest of the cootie infested cuties in the nursery.

Kyra's Tumble Down the Stairs

Yes, you heard that right. Kyra took a tumble down the stairs. It was six steps, but for and itty bitty toddler, six steps is a lot. Especially when your stupid, piece of junk baby gate doesn't even stop her fall! NO, she barreled right through it. It snapped right off from the mounting hinge. Did you get that? MY 20 POUND DAUGHTER MANAGED TO SNAP A GATE OFF AT THE POINT THAT IT SCREWS INTO THE WALL!!!

I have since removed the gate, damned it to hell for all eternity, and returned it to the store where I hope some machine smashes it into a million little pieces. I have also upgraded to another brand, with better looking mounting brackets, and a more expensive price... For $59.99 this new gate better come with a maid service.

I know, I hear you. Where was I during the falling episode? I was at the bottom of the stairs watching her (and Rachel, the other 1 year old I babysit) intently climbing up the stairs. Holding the free end of the gate in one hand (as I was about to follow them up the stairs), I turned for one second to tell the babies (my dogs) to stay . BAM, it happened that fast.

Kyra's good. She's fine. She has a small bruise on her forehead to show for the whole incident. Otherwise, I don't think she even remembers what happened. Me on the other hand... I believe I had a mini heart attack, and I'm suffering from Post Traumatic Shock. Not only that, but now I'm pretty sure that I'm the worst mother in the world.

Who does that? Who lets their daughter fall down the stairs and not catch her?

From now on I am going to be within arms reach of her at all times... "Just out of arms reach" isn't good enough for me anymore. No Ma'am. From here on out, I'm stepping up my mommy game.