Three Year Old MAYHEM!

O. M. G.  That's all that really comes to mind when I think about the "phase" (and Lord help me, it better be just a phase), that Caylie is going through right now!!  It's like she has completely forgotten everything I have taught her about being a well-behaved child.  She's a very stubborn child to begin with, and now she is using that stubbornness in pure defiance!  She'll yell at us if she's in trouble, ignores me if I ask her to do something she doesn't want to do, and even if she just doesn't want to listen.  She'll just pretend I'm not right there, talking to her.  I have been at my wits end with her, and yesterday, I thank the heavens I didn't beat her!  I worked on getting her room all steam cleaned and scrubbed for two hours, and I leave her in there for her quiet time for the afternoon to watch a movie.  When I went in there, she had smeared lotion and baby soap all into two huge spots on the carpet!!!  I had to START OVER!!!!  AAAAHHHH!!  Yeah.  I cried.  She also decided to yank on the cable that is run around the wall in her room and pulled all the staples out of the wall.  She's been my little miss Destructive lately!  I'm not sure what is going on with her, but man.  I am living by that saying now...how's it go?  What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. 

25 weeks update

Today has been a very pleasant day!  We decided to drive up to the North Shore to have lunch at Cholo's.  Very yummy mexican place!  I told Jon that his son thanked him because I have been wanting TONS of mexican food this pregnancy!!  The waves at the pipeline aren't very exciting right now, so I'm hoping to go back in a month or six weeks to check it out again.  I want to get some pictures.  I can't believe that I've lived in Hawaii for over two years now and I haven't been to see the pipeline in all it's glory!  So we had a very nice family afternoon, and both the girls zonked out in the car on the way home!  I requested a stop at Cold Stone, and after picking up some very yummy ice cream, we got home and are relaxing!  We haven't had a day go this smoothly in a while, so I'm very pleased!! 

Today, I am 25 weeks pregnant!  Week after week I am amazed at how fast the time is flying by.  Even though it feels like forever some days, I know that before we know it we will be bringing out little boy home!  That's quite a thought!  Caylie is already do excited!  She is so cute when she talks about him coming.  "I'm gonna get a brudder!!!"  She'll tell anybody that will listen!  My next dr. appt. is February 5th.  I had Jon take this picture a little bit ago when we got home.

As promised!

Let me just say...I love this dog!  She's amazing!  And since I love this shot of her so much, I thought I'd share it!  And also, I'm going to brag about her for just a minute!  That animal is 95 pounds!  But she is the most gentle and patient dog I have ever seen.  EVER.  She is 3 TIMES Caylie's weight, and will let Caylie lead her all over the place.  She lays on the floor and doesn't move while Caylie literally does somersaults over her.  What makes this so impressive to me right now, is that Lucy is not even one year old yet!  She turns one next month.  That coupled with the fact that Lucy has been kind of sick, and on medication for almost two weeks to fight a staph infection!  Yet...she's still just as patient and gentle with the kids as I could ever ask her to be!  She's awesome!  Here are two of my favorite shots of her with the girls.  They just love her!!! 

She did take that piece of celery from Hanna!  She just knew I was looking at her, so she didn't want to take it while I was watching!!!  =)  Hanna loves feeding her, and Lucy waits very patiently for it!!! 

On another note entirely.  We got the news yesterday that Jon's packet didn't make it to yesterday's Warrant Board.  *crying*  Some guy in the security office didn't do his job in a timely manner and get Jon's security clearance stuff taken care of in time.  So now we wait until the May board.  There is nothing else that we can do.  It sucks, but we just deal with it, and be grateful that we get a few extra months in Hawaii.  On top of that, the news came down to the whole unit yesterday that the reservists are taking the deployment that was scheduled for some of these guys in June.  Good for some, bad for others.  Pretty irrelevant to us, but still.  Just goes to prove that things are constantly and forever changing around here, and in the military NOTHING is certain until it's on official orders!  No matter how much I am aware of that, it still manages to frustrate me on a regular basis! 

The pregnancy is going good.  Had a check up last week that went very well.  Nothing new or exciting happening.  I feel the little man move frequently now.  That's pretty cool!  This is my 24 week picture.  Since I'll be 25 weeks tomorrow, I'll take a new picture tomorrow, and post it then.

My next appointment is at 28 weeks.  I'll have to do the diabetes screening then.  YUCK!

Yesterday I had to take the girls in to get their blood draw for their hemoglobin and hematacrit tests.  NOT FUN!!  Caylie knew what was up and was on edge as soon as we walked into the lab.  Poor Hanna got a look on her face like somebody slapped her for no reason when they stuck that needle in her arm.  I felt so bad for my babies!  But the lady that did their blood draws is the only lady in there that I would ever let touch them.  She's the best one in there, and she has never, ever missed.  On me or them.  The first time I ever had to take Caylie in the girl that did it missed, and poor Caylie was traumatized.  After all was said and done though...they did really well.  I was proud. 

Hanna showing off her bandaged arm

When I took that off her arm this morning, I discovered she bruises pretty easily.  She ended up with two giant purple bruises.  Poor thing!!!

As for today...Jon is golfing right now.  I took the girls on a walk to the mini mart for slushies.  It was a nice way to get out and enjoy the sun for a bit before lunch.  Caylie was so funny.  She drank it so fast at first she gave herself a brain freeze!! 

So it's pretty quiet right now.  Hanna is napping and Caylie is resting in her room with a Barbie movie on.  It's been a good day so far.  I am thinking about making pizza bombs for dinner, but I have to wait for Jon to call and tell me if we are having a barbeque tonight or not.  I guess some of his friends from work might come over tonight for a while.  Oh well...should be a good night either way! 

a quick update...

I have lots to update since it's been almost two weeks since I have posted.  Sorry!  But I'll be doing that huge update tomorrow.  Right now, I am just jumping on here to say we're all still alive and kicking!  I'm stretched out on the couch watching Jon play Call of Duty, again, and decided to be a bit useful with the time!  I have a hanful of cute pics I'll be posting tomorrow as well, but they are still in the camera right now!  It's been a roller coaster week for us, but we're marching on and getting through the days!  So check back tomorrow for some cute pics of the girls!  I'm trying to take at least one picture every day to share, and I'll hopefully get lots better at sharing them more often!!!  xoxox  =)

family visit!

My Aunt Jean, Uncle Bob, and two of my cousins, Kenny and Angie, took a vacation cruise here to Hawaii this past week, and on their last day they had a free day so they came to spend the day with us!!  What FUN that was!!  We got to chill out and chat with them, and Jon decided to cut the bananas from the tree we share with our neighbors.  Kenny carried them in, and well....see for yourself!! 

Then we took them on a tour of Jon's boat.  Unfortunately, Aunt Jeannie took all the pictures, I didn't get any on my camera.  =(  But I did steal a few from Angie, the ones that she posted on her facebook, and I'll share those!  After the boat, we went over to the beach and hung out for a while.  It was a beautiful day!

mommy and hanna at the beach!

la la took Caylie to the water!!

loving it!!

what fun!!

Hanna's turn!!

After the beach we went to Ricado's for a nice italian dinner before going back to our house so they could change clothes and get their bags ready to go for their trip home!!  We had a really nice visit and I enjoyed it a lot!!  I'm really glad they got to take a vacation.  Aunt Jeannie really deserved a nice break.  And I'm doubly glad that we got to see them while they vacationed! 

And this last picture is my new favorite picture of me and my girls!!  It's hard to get a good picture of them both together!!  Love it!!

An artist maybe?

Or just defiant??  Ok, I know that markers are, in general, a bad idea for kids under the age of 5.  But I gave Caylie one to keep her entertained while we drove to Hickam to pick up Jon the other day.  She got a couple of them in a kids meal and really wanted to draw.  I am trying to give her more leeway on things like that, so I had a "talk" with her about keeping it on the paper, and being a big girl...yada, yada, yada.  She did really well.............. at first.  Then we get to the boat, I look at her, and this is what I see.

AAAAHHHHH!  Why, child?  Why, other than just to annoy me because I specifically told her no!!  My goodness, sometimes I just don't know what to do with her!!!!  I must admit, it's pretty funny, and I guess it could have been worse!  At least that just wiped right off with a baby wipe!  Oh heavens!!! 

On another note entirely....back pain!  My arch nemesis during pregnancy!  And 23 weeks is WAY too early to be in so much pain when I wake up in the morning.  But it doesn't matter what I do....I always wake up with back pain and I'm always taking tylenol with my coffee.  UGH!  No fun!  Well, on the positive side, this is the last time I will have to deal with it, and each day is one day closer to being done!!  =)  Again, I will admit the same, I really could have it much worse, so I will just focus on the blessings I have been given and all the positive sides of everything!! 

I guess that's one of my New Years resolutions.  I want to always be positive, and see the good in things.  Lately I have found myself being a really negative person.  I'm not normally like that, but getting pregnant this time has messed with my head!  I was finally 100% ok with just having the girls, and never having anymore babies.  Much less a son.  I was sad at first, but not for long.  Then we found out we were pregnant.  So that is a complete 180 in my mind.  And then it's a boy on top of that, and I was just really NOT prepared for everything, and altogether I found myself focusing on all the "bad" or unplanned surprises.  I am determined to stay focused on the positive!  Go me!!  ha!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year.....

Scratch that!  HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!  hehe!  Ok, once again, I am terrible!  I have wanted to post a zillion times in the last week, and I haven't had the time to really write a good one, so I fail.  Again.  booo.  Oh well....here it goes. 

I'll start with Christmas!  It was so much fun, and Caylie was soooo excited for Santa to come!!  Christmas Eve was a really fun day!  I must admit that this is the first year that we have really done anything as a little family of our own to celebrate Christmas.  For two years before this year, we were moving over Christmas, and so we didn't do a whole lot!  To start out the day we went to the NEX to let Caylie ride the Christmas train they had set up over there, and I had hoped to a picture of both the girls with Santa, but the line was soooo long, and about 15 minutes into it, Hanna's diaper leaked all over Jon and soaked them both, so unfortunately, Santa was a no-go this year.  =(  Definitely next year though.  So Caylie rode the train....

I love the face in this one!  She had so much fun!!

and then we headed home to have lunch and get a change of clothes and a nap for Hanna.  Then we decided to head over to Hickam and do a little shopping, just to get out of the house.  As luck would have it, we were going the right way.  They had shut the highway down heading away from the bases because the President and his family were flying in for the holiday!  Unfortunately I was driving, so I don't have any pictures of the cars all stopped on the over passes, and all the people walking along the highway, but it was really a sight to see.  I did manage to get a picture of Air Force One when I drove by it this past Wednesday though.  They had it parked right along the main road across Hickam! 

Anyway...back to Christmas Eve!  So this year we decided to start a new tradition and go out for breakfast for dinner on Christmas Eve...YUM!!!  We went to Denny's and enjoyed lots of giggles from the girls.   

Caylie colored with daddy,

then they took turns blowing raspberry kisses on each other!

Hanna likes to chew on lemons, and was sharing with me!

coloring!

Then it was home and to bed for the kiddos!  Caylie was so excited she refused to fall asleep!  But she finally did and we managed to get all the presents out and put around the tree.

Christmas morning was a blast!  Jon and I got up first!  We're still very much enjoying the fact that our kids are still young enough to sleep later than we do, and don't wake us up at 5am!  But they loved it!  Hanna was definitely more interested in playing with all the toys than opening anything up, which worked out well considering that all Caylie wanted to do was tear the wrapping paper off of everything!!

sleeping in on Christmas morning!

discovering the ball pit Santa brought them!

sharing!

Hanna spent the whole morning in that ball pit!

I LOVE the face!

toys!

she was fascinated!

We spent the rest of Christmas morning putting toys together and removing them from their boxes!  I baked pies to take to Derek and Katie's and just enjoying each other's company.  We had a really nice Christmas dinner at the Scofield's, and had an all around wonderful day! 

We went to Derek and Katie's house for New Year's as well, and had lots of fun just hanging out and chatting!  We lit sparklers and had a pretty quiet evening!  I love it that they live just on the other end of our building so that when it's time for the kids to go to bed, they can just go home and sleep in their own beds, I won't ever have to move them or wake them up, and checking on them every half hour or so just means taking a 10 second walk down front porch!  Some pictures from that night.

Jon and Derek with their cigars.  These two and their cigars.  Seriously.....

All four of them...they have their own "cigar club" now!

Me and Katie!

craziness!

The smoke cloud we created in the back yard!

And the funniest part of the whole night.......

the look Jon had on his face when he discovered Evan had put a sparkler out in his beer!

I'll end this extremely long post with a quick update on the pregnancy!  I am 23 weeks today, and growing super fast.  Here's the picture I took today...don't laugh.  I spent the morning steam cleaning the carpet!

I promise I'll start taking better pictures!  This one was just sort of an after thought!  Anyway...so far so good.  Nothing new to report.  My next appointment is on Thursday (the 7th).  Let's hope there's nothing new to report after that!  I learned the hard way that when it comes to pregnancy...no news tends to be good news!! 

On a final note, I want to wish everyone a safe, happy, and blessed 2010!  I hope the last decade has been a good one, and best wishes for the new year!!!