Living in So-Called Paradise

Lately

2012-02-16T21:30:00.000+10:00

So I guess I should blow the dust off this thing even if it is just to say that there's nothing going on around here. Little E and I have taken turns not feeling well. Then Tuesday night (and into Wednesday morning) the boy decided to stay up half the night for no apparent reason, so needless to say yesterday was a bust. I can't say I minded all too much, though, since he wasn't crying and he didn't do anything to try to get me to come get him, but I took advantage of the situation since I wasn't going to be sleeping anyway and hung out in his room with him and snuggled in the dark. Little E normally is not a snuggler (or even a stay still-er, for that matter), so I enjoyed the rare mama son bonding.

We're well within the two month window of our exile from Guam-mine and Little E's, at least. The Navy emailed E the other day to let them know that they're going to let me leave early. How did I not know I needed permission to leave early? Thanks for it anyway, though. No plane tickets have been reserved yet because we won't know for another several weeks whether or not E has gotten approved for the conference he's trying to attend in April back in the states. And until he knows that we won't decide if we're going to pack up our stuff before or after I go back to the states, so nothing like waiting until the last minute. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I'm big on countdowns. It doesn't matter if the impending event is good or bad, I always get anxious when a big event gets close. I felt this way with E's last deployment and with our move here- even though I didn't want these things to happen, I just wanted them to happen now so that they could be over with. Of course, before I know it I'm going to be counting down to my own death, so I'm wholeheartedly trying to enjoy each day ~~while at the same time wishing we had an exact date of departure (from the island...not from earth)~~.

Oh, and on a completely random note, add fruit flies to the list of things I will not miss about Guam. I know my house isn't dirty so I can only guess they're due to the fact that there's a sewage ditch 50 feet (25? I'm not so good with distance) behind our house, but these stinking flies, which are actually so lovely called fungus flies, are in my house and they drive me bonkers. Now, there are probably a total of five but they are constantly swarming around my face and my food and making me want to commit myself.

But anyway. That was a lot of words for nothing going on.

Hair Therapy

2012-02-10T21:20:00.000+10:00

So I have a habit. I can't be the only one, but whenever I go through something stressful I do something drastic to my hair. ~~Cheaper than therapy, right?~~ A trip to the salon is probably not cheaper than therapy, but the results are more obvious. Back in 2008 I went from watching a two year old to watching a two year old and her three month old brother. Doesn't sound stressful, but for those first few weeks I just could not get used to taking care of two kids (hopefully I won't have to deal with that again if we have another baby...) so I did this:

I'm sure there's some underlying metaphor that could be attached to going dark, but truth is I'd just been wanting to do it for a while. Of course, about six months later my husband deployed, which resulted in this:

Apparently I've been pretty stable for the past couple of years ~~besides postpartum, sleep deprived mental breakdowns~~ because my hair has been long, blonde, and boring (just the way E likes it). Call it a precursor to what's sure to be a stressful three months this spring, but I'm ready for something new again. Maybe something like this:

Hah, no, just kidding. That came from one of those makeover sites that never works for me. I went to it to try to check out what I really want to do but I couldn't, so this will have to do:

The pink, not the haircut-let's take this one drastic step at a time, shall we? I've been wanting to put some pink in my hair for months but keep thinking that I'm a mom and that's silly. BUT I'm a mom in my twenties, not in my forties, so why not, right? Besides, I saw a woman older than I am at the bank today with pink in her hair and I actually think she pulled it off. So this will be happening soon...ish. I plan on getting my hair done next month but we have a wedding to attend in April so I'm trying to decide if it'd be polite to wait until after? But I'm doing it! Somebody hold me to it!

Oh, and if that cheesy website was good for nothing else, it showed me that I look ok in red lipstick (maybe?). The question is, will it clash with my pink hair?

Boonie Stomping: Spanish Steps

2012-02-07T22:31:00.000+10:00

We've been wanting to hike Spanish Steps pretty much since we've been here, but I think it's closed more often than it's open. The steps, which are on Big Navy, date back to the 18th century and lead down to a beautiful lagoon. Ships often port right by the lagoon, so anytime one does you can't access the hike. When we got back from Australia and saw that the ship that had been there for months was gone, we knew we had to jump on the opportunity to see this part of Guam!

The name of the hike is a bit misleading, as very few of the actual steps are still in tact. Most have been replaced by ropes and an old ladder-yea, nobody told me how steep it was going to be! E was wearing Little E and I, in true anxious form, almost had a heart attack every time we had to climb down another rope. Each time we got to another rope I told myself it must be the last, only to be faced with another one. All that being said, what waited for us at the bottom was beautiful!

For Guammies interested in going, you probably know the general whereabouts-go toward Gab Gab beach but instead of going right down the hill, keep going straight. Once you go through the guard shack there isn't much signage. You'll want to turn here:

That sign says "Kilo Wharf, Exit"

And then you'll end up at the trail head, in an open field that looks like this:

Once you make your way down the hill/mountain the path isn't marked all that well, but you'll want to veer left to end up at the lagoon. The water is so clear, and the area right off the beach is really calm. There are a lot of pretty fish right in there, so it's great for kids and other not so confident swimmers (read: me). If you want to go to the other side of the rock, I definitely suggest fins, as the tide was really strong. There's just coral in that area, so if you want an actual beach you can go right at the bottom of the hill and you'll end up here.

Oh, and bug spray. I feel like I encourage bug spray every time we do a boonie stomp, and every time I recommend it it's because I've forgotten to wear it-again. I keep bouncing back and forth about whether or not I'd do this again with Little E. It did make me nervous, but pretty much everything does. The trail was steep and it had several places where there was an eighteen inch wide trail, a mountainside to your left, and a steep drop-off to your right. So, I guess if you're going to be wearing a kid, proceed at your own risk. If you have young children that are too big to be worn but too small to be trusted climbing down ropes and old ladders, definitely make it a grown up trip. Either way, Spanish Steps is worth doing!

Please tell me that you also look like death when you hike.

Celebrations

2012-02-06T22:30:00.000+10:00

I feel like we can go for weeks here and have nothing on our social calendar, and then we get one weekend when everybody decides to throw parties at once. This was one of those weekends! I spent Friday night baking and cooking in preparation for two celebrations on Saturday. First up was a friend's baby shower on Saturday morning. The hosts set up a waffle bar, chocolate fondue, and other brunch goodies for the mom-to-be.

Baby showers always make me teary because ~~I am a big baby~~ it reminds me how thankful I am for Little E and gets me so excited for my friends about to be blessed with their own child.

Saturday we got to celebrate Eli's friend, Quin's first birthday party! It was such a fun time. I tried to get a picture of the two kids together, but they were both more interested in Quin's peas. When Q didn't want any...

Little E just decided to help himself.

And, sadly, that was the best picture I got of them. Word on the street is that Little E and Q are both quite the dancers, though, so I've made it my life's mission to get video of the two of them dancing together. Two toddlers both cooperating at the same time while I try to record them doing something funny. That'll be easy, right?

On Green Monsters, Weaning, and [Not] Walking

2012-02-04T00:36:00.000+10:00

As of last week Little E is thirteen months old. What? How? When? This month has been a busy one and somehow I had forgotten that between all the running around and flying and traveling and playing and swimming, that Eli was still aging all the while.

The time passing is bittersweet at this point, as each day gone is one day closer to our move and closer to seeing our families again, but the days with Little E, although sometimes painfully slow, still go by too quickly. I have a feeling that once we move the passing of time will because a little more bitter than sweet.

I feel like we've seen a lot of changes this month. Little E is all but weaned (we haven't dropped his night feeding yet) and it went a lot more smoothly than I expected. He's down to one nap on most days, which makes it so much easier to get out and do things. This makes both mommy and ~~baby~~ toddler much happier. Eli is pretty much the embodiment of a toddler at this point, aside from one minor detail: the toddling. This kid has no desire to walk at all. He won't even stand on his own unless he's not paying attention and you sneak your hand out of his. I guess that might explain the lack of desire to walk, seeing as he's pretty fearful of falling and mama certainly isn't proving herself to be a reliable helper. But anyway, I'm finally past the "Why won't you walk?!" phase and into the "No worries, it's still normal" phase. And wouldn't you know, since getting to this point Little E has made some progress. He walks more confidently while holding just one hand, verses tripping all over himself to grab me or something else. So I wrote this a few days ago and never got around to posting it. Today at the park E was walking with Little E and let go of him. He stood there for a few seconds, took a few steps, and when he realized nobody was holding him, sat right down on the ground. It's not walking, but it's progress, which is exciting. =)

He's also at the point where he wants everything and anything that we have to eat. Great! I love it! I was such a picky eater as a kid and am not a whole lot better now, and as a result I have such a strong desire for him to be a healthy eater. Of course, that means I have to eat better when he's around because he doesn't discriminate against junk food. I've been sneaking in extra veggies in the way of green monsters- fruit smoothies with some spinach mixed in. And he drinks the whole thing! Hallelujah, please God let him always eat this well.

So here we are, winding down our time on Guam and I'm so thankful to have Eli to share my days with. I have loved him from day one, of course, but I consider myself to be much more a toddler person than a baby person, and he's growing into such a fun toddler person to have around-even on days like today when he's challenging and exhausting. He's not just an extra body to have around and love on anymore, he's fantastically entertaining company for me. I am so blessed and so thankful.

Travel With My One Year Old

2012-02-01T21:48:00.001+10:00

Ok, last travel post for a bit. I had planned to write this last Friday, but that would have meant the Melbourne post got written Thursday, and as we all know those days were lost to tennis.

We are incredibly blessed to have the resources to take advantage of some great travel while here on Guam. Before we found out I was pregnant we had planned on several trips while we were here, and after we found out we were going to be parents we were determined not to let it slow us down. News flash, non-mommy Pam: Babies slow you down. Waaaaay down. Regardless, we've still gotten a couple great trips in and, while our China trip was less "Relaxing Exotic Destination" and more "Survivor: Crying, Breastfeeding Five Month Old in a Busy Non-English Speaking City," I really can say that Australia was a relaxing trip for us. Not the sleep until ten, do adventurous things on a whim, days of old, but still low stress and enjoyable. Back when Eli was two months old I shared my tips for traveling with a two month old, and here are some things that make it easier for us to travel with our one year old.

Be realistic with your destinations. Several months ago we started planning a trip to Palau with some friends. We really wanted to go, but the more we thought about it, the more it didn't make sense. Plenty of people take great trips to Palau with their babies, but I would have been stuck at the hotel most days while E went diving, and this was at a time when Little E still wasn't a very happy person. I just knew that I wouldn't enjoy it and we couldn't justify the cost for the experience so E will probably head out there after the baby and I go back to the states. I'm insanely jealous that I wont be seeing beautiful Palau and we felt terrible backing out on our friends, but we had to do what was best for us and Little E.

Pace yourself. There was so much we wanted to do in Australia that we didn't get to do. Time wise we definitely could have squeezed more in, but we would have had an exhausted, cranky baby on our hands and we wouldn't have gotten to enjoy the extra stuff anyway. We instead opted for a lighter schedule and a happy baby, which resulted in us being "two week whirlwind trip" tired and not "wrangled a rabid bear" tired.

Be prepared to be very entertaining. We brought a couple of Little E's favorite toys and a couple of new ones. And I can't recommend this book enough. It was seriously a life saver on the flights. Eli was hilariously amused by it-so much so that we had to order another since the first one got loved on so much.

Buy this.

I promise I'm not getting kickbacks for mentioning this, I'm just passing on a piece of advice that we got from a friend that we're very thankful for. Actually, our awesome neighbors gave us more than just advice-they let us borrow their GoGo Babyz and we had ordered our own before we even got home from Australia. If you're buying your kid a seat on the plane or you plan on gate checking his seat, this thing is awesome!

Go packing pouches. Little E is mostly on table foods at home, but I'm still a huge fan of baby food pouches when we're on the go. Turns out Australia is on the organic pouch baby food wagon so we were able to restock there, but we still brought a couple dozen pouches (Earth's Best and Plum Organics are our favorites) to supplement the pizza Little E swiped off our plates while we were away.

I think that's it! I wouldn't say that traveling with a one month old is easier than traveling with a newborn or five month old, but it's definitely simpler. What I mean by that is there was a lot less special prep and we needed a lot less stuff. Australia was our last family trip before we leave Guam, but we do hope to take a few vacations stateside before the next babies join the family. Here's hoping travel just keeps getting easier!

Helpful Information for a Trip to Melbourne, Australia

2012-01-30T21:18:00.000+10:00

So, I'm pretty much the worst blogger ever. You see, the problem was that the Nadal/Federer match was really good. So was the semi-final on Friday, but neither have anything on the men's final on Sunday. If you like tennis and you didn't see that match, you missed out!

But anyway, here's what I promised several days ago. Melbourne recap here.

How We Got There

Same way we got to Sydney! I'm not sure I mentioned it there, though, that we didn't bring our stroller because it's large and we weren't sure if we would be able to check it for free. Turns out, we could have. We saw moms with large double strollers who had no problems checking theirs. If you're not interested in lugging your big stroller, though, we found a cheap umbrella stroller at Target in Cairns for $25.

Where We Stayed

We stayed at the Langham, which is in Southbank on the Yarra river and within walking distance of pretty much everything. Once again we booked through ITT and got a discounted rate. This is something rather insignificant, but it's an example of the customer service we received: we requested a pack and play before we arrived, and in it there was an adorable little bear dressed in Langham pajamas for Little E. Nice touch, for sure! Our room was quite a bit bigger than what shows up in this (kind of dark) photo.

Where We Ate

This was the most pathetic of the cities, I think. Because we spent so much time at the Open, our restaurant standard was: must be within five minutes of our hotel. So we had more Grill'd and a Baja Fresh-like restaurant called Salsa. Yes, we ate the Australian version of upscale fast food. I'll hang my head in shame now, but the tennis really was the number one priority here.

What We Did

Hmmm, can ya guess? ;) Besides the Australian Open, we walked around the city, visited the Melbourne Museum, and saw the Royal Exhibition Building. It was a quick trip!

Australia, Part 3: Melbourne

2012-01-25T22:39:00.000+10:00

Cairns here, Sydney here!

Sunday we took the hour and a half flight from Sydney to Melbourne. Again, it was a late afternoon flight so we took a quick walk to see how far we were from Melbourne Park and then headed back to the hotel.

Monday was all tennis! We originally only bought tickets for the Australian Open evening matches, but at the last minute we purchased tickets for the day matches, too. I'm so glad we did. One, Little E was exhausted one set into Roger Federer's match and I had to take him back to the hotel. Two, it worked out that Rafael Nadal was playing during the day! E and I were able to watch most of the first match of the day together before I took the baby back for a nap while E watched a women's match. He then headed back to get me (thankfully our hotel was only about a mile away and Melbourne had a free tram running for the Open) so that I could go watch Rafa!

Oh, here we have a top notch family photo! You can't see the top half of E's face, Little E wanted nothing to do with any of it, and something strange is going on with my shirt.

Rafael Nadal

Totally gave us the cold shoulder!

Roger Federer

Caroline Wozniaki

Obviously the Australian Open was the highlight of our two days in Melbourne, but we still enjoyed seeing the city on the second day.

For some reason one of the things E was set on doing in Melbourne was seeing ~~a big stuffed horse~~ Phar Lap-Australia's version of Secretariat, so says E. So we headed to the Melbourne Museum, which ended up being a lot of fun for Little E, too, thanks to the kids area there.

And that, sadly, was all we had time for in Melbourne. The tennis alone made it worth the trip, though!

It's getting late here, so the Melbourne info will have to wait for tomorrow. I imagine I'll write it tomorrow while we watch Nadal beat Federer in the semifinals-or if E has it his way, it'll be the other way around. =)

Helpful Information for a Trip to Sydney, Australia

2012-01-24T22:50:00.000+10:00

I guess I should say, I hope it's helpful! Sydney recap here.

How We Got There

For our flights between cities, E found it was cheapest to purchase our own tickets rather than go through ITT. We flew from Cairns to Sydney, Sydney to Melbourne, and back to Cairns on Virgin Blue using an airpass. The airpass is for non Australian residents flying three or more legs within Australia. The fares are discounted and include luggage, which most fares do not. Something we found out a bit too late (read: after booking Little E's seat) is that Virgin, and apparently other Australian airlines, will not let you use a car seat on the plane. I was pretty upset about this, not only because we bought the baby's ticket, but also because it meant we had to check his car seat. I just can't believe that luggage handlers take better care of baby seats than they do suitcases. The airlines do provide infant seat belts, which loop through the main seat belt to secure lap children to their parents. Regardless, learn from our mistake. =) We were told by a woman working for Continental that Qantas does let you use car seats, but I'd obviously suggest calling to be sure. Overall, though, we had good experience with Virgin. Taxi to and from the hotel was about $50 round trip, and in both Sydney and Melbourne there were taxi attendants (?) who offered to call in a car with a child seat before they saw we had our own.

Where We Stayed

This is where I bowed out of the planning process. For me, ignorance was bliss because I had heard how expensive hotels in Sydney are and I just hate the idea of spending so much money on a hotel room. We knew we didn't have anything scheduled in Sydney, though, and would most likely be spending more time in our room than we did in Cairns (we did, thanks to the rain), so E went with the Shangri-La. It's one of several nice hotels located in an area of Sydney called The Rocks. It's a great little area within a short walk to Circular Quay. Just a word of warning, though: there are a lot of steps in The Rocks! We didn't mind, but I know some people do. It was a complaint we found on Trip Advisor, along with the fact that a construction crane blocked the view of the opera house from the reviewer's room. Are we the only ones who like to look at one star reviews and make fun of people for trivial complaints? ;) Anyway, we loved the hotel and the staff were great. When checking out, though, the front desk (and, I'm sure, that of any other hotel in Sydney) will offer to charge you either in Australian or American dollars. If you've gotten your credit card's foreign transaction fee waved, have them charge it in AUS-your card will give you a better exchange rate. Here are a few photos of our room:

We asked for a "baby cot" and got this. ;) It was quickly replaced, though.

Where We Ate

I won't do my spiel again, but we didn't do nice restaurants, so sorry I can't be of any help in that area. Unfortunately, we didn't have great food at the restaurants we did try, either. I'm sure there is great food in Sydney, but we didn't have any table service meals to find out. E did have a kangaroo burger (no, thank you) from The Dip and he enjoyed it (now please go brush your teeth). Oh, and the pastries we enjoyed came from La Renaissance Patisserie.

What We Did

The tour company we used was I'm Free Tours. It is just what it says-free tours offered daily at 10:30 and 2:30 leaving from Sydney's town hall. At the end of the three hour tour you tip your tour guide what you feel the tour was worth. I found the company through Trip Advisor and our guide lived up to the glowing reviews.
Our second day was spent on the Circular Quay and at the Royal Botanical Gardens. We had planned on taking the ferry to Taronga Zoo because we had heard great things about it, but we unfortunately got rained out. We had also talked about taking a tour to see the Blue Mountains. If only we had more time!

As always, I'll do my best to answer any questions!

Australia, Part 2: Sydney

2012-01-24T22:49:00.000+10:00

Thursday we left Cairns for Sydney and arrived around dinnertime. We took a quick walk around before we returned to the hotel to put Little E to bed.

The view from our room? Incomparable!

Friday we woke up early ~~because we have a baby~~ and I sneaked out during Eli's morning nap to go for a walk. I stopped by a patisserie with a long line (isn't that how everybody chooses their restaurants?) for a croissant and coffee and sat by the water to read.

Not a bad way to start the day! We only had two days here (and the second day ended up getting rained out) and we wanted to see as much of the city as possible, so after Little E woke up from his nap we headed out for a walking tour of the city.

I remember what about two thirds of these buildings are, but blogger is being difficult and I'm too frustrated to deal with it anymore! We're really glad we did the tour, though-it was informative, interesting, and a great way to see a lot of the city in a little time.

Saturday, like I said, we got rained out, which was disappointing since we had planned to take the ferry to the zoo. Instead we hung out at the hotel during the day until the rain let up and we...wait for it...went for a walk. We walked down to and around Circular Quay and through the Royal Botanical Gardens. We were walking through the city when we got rained on again and ended up heading back to the hotel instead of shopping like we had planned.

Sydney was such a fun city that we wish we could have spent more time exploring. E is already talking about our next Australia trip...ten years from now. It will definitely include another stop in Sydney, and E hopes we'll time it to attend the Australian Open again. But I'll talk about that and the rest of Melbourne tomorrow!

Helpful Information for a Trip to Cairns, Australia

2012-01-23T23:05:00.001+10:00

(Cairns trip recap here)

How We Got There

We booked through the Information, Tickets, & Travel Office located at the Charles King Fitness Center on Big Navy. The trip to Cairns includes a direct flight on Continental (now United) Airlines from Guam to Cairns, transportation to and from the airport, three days and three nights at one of three hotels, and one excursion. A few things about this:

When you book this package, the maximum length of your stay in Australia is fourteen days, which actually means twelve due to the days the direct flights are offered.
Australian visas are an extra $25 per person.
Whether or not you choose this package, I highly recommend utilizing the ITT office. Amanda is so kind and helpful.

Where We Stayed

(Forgot to take photos of our room)

The three choices for the above package are The Hotel Cairns, the Rydges Tradewinds, and the Shangri-La. E chose to stay at the Rydges Tradewinds because it was supposed to be a step above The Hotel Cairns and it offered ocean views. Our hotel staff was very friendly and helpful and overall it was a nice hotel, but the rooms were pretty dated. Among my many ~~psychotic tendencies~~ quirks is a fear of hotel room germs, and while the hotel was clean enough, I found myself doing the "pick things up with two fingers or a napkin" deal quite often. Our friends stayed at The Hotel Cairns and were very pleased with it. Their hotel was a block from the bay, but judging by the website, their hotel had more updated rooms and, as an added bonus, offered free use of several smart cars with a refundable deposit or, I believe, a $35/day fee. If you do decide to go with the Rydges Tradewinds, sign up for free to become a priority guest for half off of the $20/day internet charge (not wireless, unfortunately) and free late checkout. Oh, and if you're interested in the Shagri-La, try pricing out your trip on your own-E found that, had we chosen the Shangri-La, it would have been cheaper to book each aspect separately. We went with a cheaper hotel than Sydney and Melbourne, though, because we knew we wouldn't be spending much time in the room.

Where We Ate

So, here's the thing. We have a one year old. Eating out with a one year old isn't all that fun or relaxing. Add to that that Little E is still taking two naps a day, and we just didn't feel like table service meals were how we wanted to spend our time on this vacation. I say all that to say, I don't have very many restaurant recommendations (I can tell you that there are three big grocery stores within walking distance of the hotels, since we stocked up on organic milk, yogurt, and baby food for Little E).

Grill'd- This is a "healthy" burger chain in Australia. I don't think I'd consider a chicken sandwich with brie and cranberry sauce healthy, but it was delicious. E tried a lamb burger and steak sandwich and really enjoyed both. Their chips with with herb seasoning were really good, too!
La Pizza Trattoria-We got pizza here a couple of times. It wasn't the best we've ever had, but it was a good thin crust pizza. It's on the Esplanade, on the corner of Aplin Street.
Mondo Cafe Bar and Grill- I can't give a fair assessment of this restaurant since this was the evening we attempted to eat out and I ended up taking Little E for a walk most of the time. Everybody else at the table really enjoyed their meals, though.
Cafe Kuranda-In the Kuranda Village, of course. We were only there for a few hours so we obviously only tried this one place, but Cafe Kuranda had chicken and pasta with pesto that ended up being pretty good.
No Starbucks in Cairns, for those Guammies wondering, but there are several Gloria Jean's Coffees.

What We Did

E did an all day dive through Tusa Dive. The cost was $245, which included gear rental (although E took his own mask and snorkel, which he would recommend to others, too), lunch, and three dives on the Great Barrier Reef. Water is included, but other drinks and snacks are an extra charge, as is Dramamine-so bring your own if you tend to get seasick. =) Also, if you don't have an underwater camera, rent one ahead of time. This place rents cameras for $45, which includes a CD of all of your images. Otherwise, if you forget like E, you'll end up paying way too much money for a few souvenir shots. The tour includes pick up and drop off at your hotel.
We road the Skyrail and Kuranda Railway through Downunder Tours. The drivers were so accommodating (even as we lugged along all of the baby gear) and the buses were very clean. Once we got to the top we went to Koala World, which is an itty bitty little zoo whose main purpose seems to be to get people to pay more money to get photographed with a koala, hah! If you stop by the information center in Kuranda you can get a discount for entry and it ends up being $15/adult, plus $16 if you want that coveted photo.
Shopping in Cairns isn't super extensive, but there are plenty of souvenir shops and a mall, which has a Target. (Guammies get it!) Surprisingly I didn't do much shopping, since we'll be moving soon and I figured it's be easier to do it when we get back to the States.

Random Bits

Look into upgrading your credit card to avoid foreign transaction fees. We had a good Visa, but we still would have gotten charged a 3% transaction fee. By upgrading our card ($100 annual fee that we got waved for the first year) we were able to avoid that.
Don't exchange money at the airport. If you get a taxi, they'll charge you a 10% fee to use your credit card, but that still will be less than what you get charged at the airport unless you change over $500 or more at once. Check the exchange rates before you leave and then take a walk around Cairns-I can't remember exactly where, but there's a shop that has a great rate and signs out front that advertise it.
If you don't have prearranged transportation, cabs are always waiting outside the arrivals gate. Round trip taxi fare from the airport was about $45 AUS.
Bugspray-Use it early, use it often. I got eaten alive in Cairns. The guys didn't end up as spotted as I did, but they did get bitten a few times, too.
There is so much to do in Cairns, we just didn't have enough time or ability (because of Little E) to do it. Zip lining, snorkeling, horseback riding, and all sorts of tours are all fun options if you visit Cairns!

I think that about covers it! If anybody has any questions feel free to ask! PS~Sorry for the unusually small font-not sure why that happened?

Australia, Part 1: Cairns

2012-01-23T23:03:00.000+10:00

Sit back, grab a drink, and prepare to stick around for a while! I plan to do three recaps of our Australia trip (one for each city) for myself, as well as three posts with information that will hopefully be helpful for our Guam friends planning their own trips.

We left the evening of January 8 for Cairns, Australia. Our main reasons for hitting Cairns were that it was a direct flight from Guam and so that E could dive the Great Barrier Reef! Cairns is a beach town and actually reminded us of Guam in several ways. Don't worry, friends-it's much bigger than Guam and there is a lot more to do. For us, though, we wanted this vacation to be relaxing. Our trip to China was go, go, go and we just didn't want to come back from our vacation needing a vacation (spoiler alert: we weren't as tired post-Australia as we were post-China, but we were definitely still tired).

We arrived in Cairns at one o'clock in the morning so our first day there was spent exploring and getting the lay of the land.

That evening we met up with friends that happened to be taking their vacation at the same time we did. Little E wasn't feeling the sit down meal after a rough night's sleep the prior night, so we spent more time walking loops nearby.

Ignore my arm-I was trying to snap at the baby to get him to look. ;)

Day two was more relaxing, exploring, and walking for Little E and me (I can say that we walked forty or fifty miles over twelve days, and that's a conservative guess). It really was fantastic even though it may sound boring. Our hotel was right across the street from the Esplanade, a boardwalk of sorts along the bay. Cairns is a very family-oriented city and there was a lot to do right there-a huge playground for all ages, a splash pad, and a public lagoon (read: shallow zero entry pool).

Meanwhile, E was having a great day as well.

Our third and last full day in Cairns we took the Skyrail up to Kuranda, walked around the little town and took the railway back. Kuranda is very much a tourist attraction (complete with Your Picture With a Koala!) (E bought into it), but it's still neat to walk around, and the rides there and back were both beautiful.

Oh, here's the thing with this day-we got on the Skyrail and I realized I had taken the camera out of our bag to load pictures onto the computer. I was on the verge of tears angry at myself, when I realized I had the iPad so I used that! Day saved! Then, as we were about to get off of the Skyrail...E found the camera in the bottom of the bag. I had outsmarted myself, it seemed, and then I was on the verge of tears angry that all we had were crummy iPad photos. Ah, well, no biggie. =)

By the time we found the camera, my baby bangs had made an appearance.

Trying to make a grab for the big stuffed animal.

This is the first time this has happened since...ever.

Despite the fifty photos, I promise you that was a short recap. Up next: Sydney!

Home Again, Home Again...

2012-01-20T20:53:00.000+10:00

We're so happy to be home! We had a great time in Australia, but we are exhausted and there's no place like home...even if home is currently Guam. ;) It was so nice to take a nap in our bed after our red eye flight, and Little E was adorably excited to see Tink. Our trip was a lot of fun, went by quickly, and was capped by an awful, awful flight home. The take off was so turbulent I was sure we were going to crash. E tried to comfort me by telling me he had been on a military flight that was struck by lightening twice and caught on fire and he survived! Whataguy! Add to my hyperventilating episode the new fear of being struck by lightening. Although we fought storms the whole way home, we avoided that fate and my nerves are slowly but surely recovering.

This weekend will be spent relaxing and going through hundreds of photos so I can begin recapping the past two weeks on Monday. I can't wait to share our trip with everybody, along with some information for my Guam friends planning trips of their own!

Sydney Harbor

On Holiday!

2012-01-10T10:33:00.001+10:00

G'day, mate! Throw a couple shrimp on the barbie, head to the outback, and insert any other stereotypical phrase Americans use when imitating an Australian accent here!

We're enjoying a much needed break from The Rock with a trip to Australia! Sure, Little E doesn't look like he's enjoying it, but I promise you he is. I don't usually like to broadcast to the world that we're not at home, but we have ~~nothing of value to take~~ a friend staying at our place and a vicious guard dog to boot so I thought it'd be safe to stop in and say hello!

Be back when we get home with some recaps!

The Name Game

2012-01-04T21:30:00.000+10:00

With baby number two (hopefully) on the horizon, possible names are already floating through my head daily. I think naming a person is a big deal-it's often their first impression and they're usually stuck with it for life. Add to that that I've always strongly disliked my name (sorry, mom), and I feel a strong responsibility to choose good ones for our children. So here we go with my long list of baby naming rules. Heads up, though-please don't go thinking that I hate your child's name if it falls into one of these "I would never"s.There are plenty of lovely names out there that just don't work for me.

First names cannot be trendy. I'm ok with getting a bit creative with a middle name, but I need something my child can use their whole life and not in a "mumble it under my breath because I'm embarrassed" kind of way. In the same vein, I don't want a name that's really popular. I don't think I'd ever use a top ten baby name, and if it's out of the top fifty that's even better. I want something that different enough, but still not a weird name that everybody has trouble pronouncing. I'm also not a huge fan of names that can be shortened. A name doesn't have to be nickname proof, but I would never name my child something that comes with a nickname I don't like-he or she will inevitably get called said nickname at some point in their life. For the most part I'm also not a fan of unisex names, although there are a few exceptions. (In those exceptions I feel like the names generally lean more toward one gender.) Boy names have to be strong and masculine; girl names have to be feminine but not too cutesy. I just can't picture a potential daughter in a power suit going for an interview and introducing herself as Sweetie, you know?

You'd think all of our rules would complicate the naming process, but they narrow down the pool so much that so far it's been pretty easy. So how does Little E's name fit into all of that? When we went to the hospital we had a short list of names but I wanted to wait until we met him before officially naming him, and we decided on Eli Perry. E and I didn't want a junior but we both liked Eli and it's similar enough to the husband's that I consider Little E named after him without actually having his name. Perry is my maiden name and is used in honor of my father, whose first and middle names were too unfortunate to pass on to another generation (sorry, dad). Eli (his name, that is) is strong, most definitely male, void of any obvious nicknames, and when I picked it in early 2010 it was number ninety on the social security names list. Since then I feel like I hear it everywhere-from other blogs to new babies that E sees at the hospital-but I have a feeling I'm probably just hyper aware of it now. It did jump to number seventy five last year, so here's hoping it doesn't climb much higher.

Also, the whole family names thing-I never thought I'd do it and I hopefully haven't cornered myself on it. I'm obviously not opposed to the idea, but I bounce back and forth about it with future children. I was the only out of four kids in our family not to get some sort of family name, and I always felt left out, so I think if the next kid gets a family name they'll all get one in one way or another.

So what's on our list for baby number two? Call me a smug mom, but I'm not telling. I got too many unwanted opinions on Eli's name, and there was the case of baby name theft, something I never believed in until it was my meaningful, unusual, well thought out name getting stolen. But my mother, husband, and closest friends have all heard about that, so no need to spread my grumpiness on the issue any further. ;) Besides, I'm not one to leave the gender a surprise, so the least I can do is wait to share what the next baby's name might be.

Am I crazy? Does anybody else have such strict naming criteria as I do? And do you think there's such a thing as baby name theft?

Looking Back, Looking Forward

2012-01-02T21:33:00.001+10:00

2011 was such a big, wonderful year for us, and 2012 is set to be just as big and wonderful! 2011 looked like this:

The first few months had us adjusting to our awesome son. I went from thinking I had a good sleeper (ha!) to realizing I have an awful sleeper, to now having a pretty wonderful sleeper (knock on wood, cross all crossables, hop on one foot and do a sleep dance).
At the end of February we spent three glorious weeks back in Maryland visiting family. It's hard to believe this was almost a year ago and that we won't see them again for three more months!
Springtime brought Little E's first Easter and my first Mothers Day (or my second, depending on how you look at it).
In June we celebrated E's first Fathers Day. We also took a whirlwind trip to China and started learning to love the island a bit more.
July and August were super busy for E at work, but we did manage our first boonie stomp as well as a meeting with Mr. Belding himself.
The last third of the year flew by so fast. It's almost surreal that it's over, and I think it's because it was so busy. We spent a lot of time at the beach in September and October. November, of course, brought Little E's first Thanksgiving and December was packed full with Auntie A's visit, Christmas festivities, Little E's first birthday, and his second Christmas.

There's so much I didn't write about (I hope to better document our lives next year) and still looking back through the blog our lives were so full this year! There was way too much work for E, but we were also blessed to have our share of fun as well. And next year? We have so much planned for next year! Here's what's on the table so far:

A two week trip to Australia
A move back to the east coast
A wedding in South Carolina
Our first home purchase
A trip to visit friends and family in California
Little E's first trip to Disney World with our extended family

So much going on, all so exciting! We also are praying that we'll be able to add to our family this year. This seems crazy because Eli is exhausting but he's also amazing and adorable and lovable and we can't wait! Now normally this would be way too much information for me to dish out, between being ~~a prude~~ conservative and a ~~recluse~~ pretty private person, but I've already talked about how we don't have babies the old fashioned way. I've been sitting here for five minutes debating whether or not to even share this right now, but we intend to go through the military program again and I plan to document our experiences in case it might help anybody who plans to do the same.

I'm looking forward to so much this year while still trying to enjoy each moment as it comes. This is something that's hard for me to balance, especially with so much on the horizon. So, here's hoping for our best year yet!

Christmas Day on New Year's Eve

2011-12-31T20:44:00.000+10:00

A week later and I figured I should post about our Christmas before the year ends and I forget our day! I planned to blog last night, but I had an awful headache. Before that I planned to blog Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, but instead I was reading these

on this

Don't I look thrilled? I wasn't pleased with the fact that E and I had set a budget and between the iPad and my other gifts, he definitely did not follow it. Of course now, a week and 2.6 books later, I'm kind of in love with it. Also, I thought about cropping out the mess but, let's be honest, almost every house in America looks like this on Christmas morning.

I've gotten a little ahead of myself. Christmas was great! I thought Eli would be bored by new toys after receiving new ones for his birthday, but he was still so into it! His favorite toy by far has been his cozy coupe, but I was too busy getting video of him spotting it for the first time to get any pictures.

Our families were so generous and Little E is definitely in need of a new toy box! After we finished up, Eli napped and then we all got ready for church. I realized too late that I didn't get any pictures of just the baby in his Christmas outfit!

We know that next year when we're back in the states the holidays will be hectic, so we took the opportunity to keep Christmas dinner low key. I made dinner and we had a few friends over to enjoy it, followed by some time at the park, because isn't that what everybody does on Christmas?

Somehow the flash got turned off, and I'm doing some weird slouchy thing, but I still love it!

As for our New Year's Eve plans...we don't have any. Actually, that's not true. Our plans include tacos, cookies, and, if I'm feeling ambitious, taking down the Christmas decorations. More than likely, though, taking down Christmas decorations=finishing the last fifty pages of Mockingjay, followed by dreams about famine. I obviously shouldn't be reading The Hunger Games before bed.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everybody!

I Have a One Year Old!

2011-12-26T21:23:00.001+10:00

Saturday was Little E's first birthday and we had a great day! Unfortunately he didn't decide to treat himself (and us) to some extra sleep so after going to bed at three, E and I were up by seven to help Little E open birthday gifts.

We figured our friends wouldn't want to spend an hour watching the ~~baby~~ toddler eat paper and play with toys, so we gave him the gifts that we and our families bought him.

I'm happy to say that no money was wasted. Eli loved everything that he got! So after some playtime and breakfast he went down for his nap while I set up for his birthday brunch.

Bad picture quality-E snapped them quickly when we were about to eat-but we had coffee, hot chocolate, oj, quiche, french toast, sausage, muffins, and yogurt and granola with berries. I know it's such a busy time for everybody, so we only had a few people over.

The cake wasn't a huge hit, but the icing was! Little E actually spit the cake we gave him out in favor of more icing, and because I'm a neurotic mama I ended up taking it away from him about halfway through. Thankfully he didn't seem to mind!

After brunch ended and Little E had his afternoon nap we headed over to labor and delivery at the hospital do deliver cookies. There were actually two babies born on Christmas Eve this year (we were the only one to have a baby at the hospital last Christmas Eve) and I was bummed that I forgot to bring gifts for them. We did run into one of the nurses that helped deliver Little E-she also happens to be our neighbor. =)

All in all it was a great day! We wish our families could have been with us to celebrate, but we did get to skype during the cake, and we're thankful to have such great friends that were happy to celebrate with us!

A Few Things That Have Nothing to Do With One Another

2011-12-22T23:46:00.000+10:00

I think most people call these "randoms."

Santa Last weekend we took Little E to see Santa. It was nap time and he liked him about as much as he liked ~~Bugs Bunny~~ the Easter Bunny. We were hoping for a second try today, but the week has just been too busy. We're not sure what we're going to do with Santa yet but we couldn't pass up the opportunity for the classic Santa picture.

Have you ever seen a face that screams "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?! GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!" like this one does? I promise papa was right there with him and I swooped in as soon as this photo was done.

Wife Fail I'm a notoriously awful surprise keeper. I can't remember a year that I waited until Christmas to give E his main gift. This year, though, I was doing great-until today. As we were talking about the ever-so-frustrating postal service here, E said that the bright side was that all of my gifts have arrived. My reply? "Yea, I hope your underwater camera gets here tomorrow." Just like that. Not a thought about it until E questioned what I said. Um, what's my problem?

Buttah and sugah All of that dough turned into all of this, plus two unpictured plates. You better believe I'm giving this stuff away ASAP. Yes, they're on my washer and dryer. It's the only place they'd all fit. Who wants some?

Mommy Fail Little E inherited my crazy hair. I don't know if you can tell from that picture up there, but the front has grown in at all different lengths, it's full of cowlicks, and it's so straight that it sticks straight up in the back. Now that it's a bit long it hides most of that, but I decided to try to even it out for the hundreds of pictures that will be taken this weekend. So I grab E's razor, put on the 3/4" guard, take a swipe across the top of the baby's head...and realize that way more hair just came out than should have.

Do you see that, people? I'm not crazy, right? I mean, I was crazy to cut his hair when I was as tired as I was but the dark purple is supposed to be 3/4" and the light purple is supposed to be 1/4". If I had read the numbers on the guard I obviously would have known I was about to give my son a buzz cut. And then cry about it. It'll grow back, it'll grow back, it'll grow back...pictures to come.

[Almost] Wordless Wednesday: Christmas Sweets

2011-12-21T22:16:00.000+10:00

What's a girl to do when the baby's sleeping and the husband's working (and working and working)? Make five kinds of cookie dough and several pounds of fudge, of course. There's also peppermint bark, candied pecans, toffee with and without almonds, and some experimental salted caramel and chocolate dipped marshmallows. I think we can all agree that there's way too much butter in there. Unless you're Paula Deen. She'd probably say there's no such thing, yall. I also like that the other things on those shelves are light sour cream and cream cheese, fat free yogurt, and wheat bread. It's all about balance.

Of course, I'm a clutz. Have I mentioned I once fell off of a ski lift? Anyway, I apparently can't boil sugar without blistering my fingers, and there's also a slice there on my palm. All in the name of making people fat and happy, right?

Well, that was nowhere near wordless. Oops.

Rota Walk

2011-12-20T00:03:00.004+10:00

Saturday was Andersen Air Force Base's annual Rota Walk. The houses on Rota Drive go all out with the decorations and what seems like half of the island's residents come up to enjoy lights, treats, and music. We went with some friends and it definitely helped get us in the holiday spirit!

It was quite windy!

And it true Guam fashion, it poured down rain when we were exactly halfway through.

The giant peppermints were big hits.

The rare reincarabao

Yes, that's a boonie car decked out in lights.

Guam mamas and babies are easily amused...by cardboard gingerbread houses.

Amazing how a couple of Christmas ornaments got them to sit still long enough for pictures!

Crazy hair made possible by Guam rain. Funny pose made possible by the silly boy whose knees can't touch the ground.


Fly navy!

Five days until Christmas. So much to do and so little time to enjoy it!

The Stockings Were Hung by the Window with Care...

2011-12-17T16:07:00.001+10:00

Is that not how the poem goes?

For us it does this year! I look forward to a potential fireplace next year, but for now a few command hooks and a windowsill do the job of a mantel and stocking holders.

I wanted stockings that we could keep for Little E's entire childhood as well as allow me to get matching ones for any future children, so I bought these classic red and white stockings from Pottery Barn back in August, along with the matching personalized tree skirt.

Our tree is several years old and has seen better days, but it's on the long list of things we're waiting to replace until after we move back to the states. I know the whole "brown paper packages tied up with string" thing isn't original, but I loved the idea of it. After I got the presents under the tree I decided the gifts needed some color so I bought a roll of simple candy cane paper to punch it up a bit, along with tags that I cut out of scrapbook paper and personalized with some stamps I had on hand.

Besides our tree, the decorations I put up are fairly minimal. Our house is essentially a big rectangle, so too much would be overwhelming, but I love this simple sign I got from Uppercase Living.

These few decorations were originally spread throughout the house, but they were too tempting to tiny hands. I ended up grouping them all together on a Ikea sideboard leftover from our newlywed days. There's the nativity scentsy with the Christmas tree scent, of course, the Willow Tree nativity that was gifted to me last year by my mother (I need the creche!), and a few little trees I bought at the craft fair here.

To satisfy Little E's desire for Christmas decor play things, I pulled out a present from the grandparents and gave it to him a bit early (I don't think they'd mind!). I have it corralled on a Christmas tray, but it's one of the first things that gets pulled down every morning.

This last idea is courtesy of Pinterest, and it's a great way to ~~hide baby fingerprints~~ add some whimsy to your Christmas decor. Just a bit of wrapping paper taped to the inside of our entertainment center doors and we have a fun inexpensive Christmas decoration!

I have a long list of things I would have liked to do, but due to lack of resources here and failure to plan far enough in advance to order things, they just didn't happen. That doesn't mean the decorations I have don't make me smile every time I see them! I'm getting so excited to celebrate our first Christmas at home as a family of three!

Tis the season to link up! Check out more fun decorations here and here!

Little E's Birth Story and a Little about Naval Hospital Guam

2011-12-16T23:32:00.000+10:00

I started writing little E's birth story soon after he was born but for some reason never got around to posting it. I figured that with his birthday being in eight (!!!) days it's as good a time as any to finish it up so that I remember!

Around 34 weeks I started measuring small so my ob decided to do an ultrasound. She thought that the baby was also measuring small, so she sent me to the local radiology center to get a more thorough ultrasound. This ultrasound showed the baby measuring quite a bit larger (6.5 pounds at 35 weeks). Although this would have been fine, my ob suspected that they had over measured and was concerned about a possible IUGR, so she set up twice weekly monitoring. If everything looked good, I would be induced on January 5 at 39 weeks; if things started going downhill I would be induced at 37. All I hoped for was that I wouldn't have a Christmas baby-I didn't want to do that to my poor kid!

I went in on Thursday, December 23 for my monitoring. It consisted of a non-stress test and a growth scan. I didn't tell anybody, but that morning I woke up and had "a feeling." It sounds ridiculous, but I also knew as soon as I POAS that I was having a boy-mother's intuition, I guess. Anyway, I hadn't washed my hair in two days and, being 37 weeks pregnant and exhausted, threw it up in a bun and went to my appointment. Everything looked good with the NST, so we went next door to meet with my ob and have my ultrasound. I remember talking about random, non-baby related things, and at the end of the ultrasound my ob informed me that my amniotic fluid was low and "It looks like you're going to have a baby today!"

Shock. That's the only word that could describe how I felt. Should I have been? Probably not. Did I have a "feeling"? Yes, but my dirty-haired self obviously blew it off. I was on the verge of tears-my bag wasn't packed, I hadn't ordered everything I wanted, and it was just too soon! I asked if I could run home and take a shower. The answer was no. I was being sent across the hall to the mother baby unit and being induced-now! I slowly got dressed and called my mom. "Soooo...I'm having the baby now," was all I could choke out. She obviously freaked out a little bit and started regretting not being here for the birth (she wouldn't have been anyway). I got off the phone and within an hour the induction process has started.

For the sake of my future teenage son and my prudish nature, I will not get too detailed about my labor and delivery. Don't hate me, but I actually enjoyed it! Of course it was painful, but it wasn't unbearable and it wasn't the worst pain I'd ever felt. According to my husband the nurses were shocked that I was napping through such a high dose of pitocin-I was up to 22. The standard max is 20 and the nurses need a doctor's order to go beyond that. That being said, I labored for 23 hours without an epidural and was still not even halfway to being complete. When they came in to...um...break my water (despite what everybody told me, I AM still a prude even after giving birth!) the doctor told me that at this point the pain was going to get exponentially worse between "moving things along" and the steadily increasing pitocin dose. I kid you not, right at that moment I had a huge contraction so I caved and I do not regret it one bit! I like to think I could have gotten through without an epidural and I will probably attempt to do so if I'm blessed with another baby, but it ended up being the right decision at the time. One of my husband's colleagues gave me my epidural and it went perfectly-quick, almost painless, and immediately effective! I passed out right away and three hours later I woke up to be told that we were ready to go! Yes, I took 23 hours to get to four and three to get to ten once I got the epidural. See? Right decision. I called my mom and my two best friends and twelve minutes or so (hah! Husband kept track) of pain-free pushing later, my sweet little boy was born on Christmas Eve at 3:37 P.M, weighing in at 6 pounds, 9 1/2 ounces.

It's funny, one of the many irrational upsets of my pregnancy was that little E's birthday here wouldn't be his birthday back in the states. Wouldn't you know, he waited until after midnight east coast time to make his appearance. I remember that one of the first things, if not the first thing, I said to little E was "Hello, my sweet boy!" This is exactly how I greet my son almost every morning.

E at 10 days old

I was going to do another little post on my experience at Naval Hospital Guam, but I'll go ahead and add it in here. To sum it up: it was excellent. I was skeptical about giving birth here on Guam. The naval hospital is very old (they're currently building a new one), it's small, there is no NICU. Generally if you're having a complicated pregnancy and it looks like your baby will need to be in the NICU you will get transported to a place with a larger hospital as your pregnancy progresses. If your baby is born here and in need of a NICU the baby will usually get medivaced to Okinawa (one of the reasons a no-fee passport is required when you PCS to Guam). All that said, the obstetricians and nurses here are top notch. I can't imagine having a calmer, more encouraging environment. When I was trying to labor naturally I was given techniques to do so. When I was wavering about whether or not to get an epidural, my OB assured me that there was no way she would have a baby without one and that at the end of labor everybody gets the same reward. The icing on the cake was that we were the only family on the ward on Christmas day, so our son was the center of everybody's attention.

So there it is! Less than a year later and the details are already fuzzy, and since I never finished my pregnancy journal or started a baby book I'll be glad to have all of this written down. I wouldn't want to forget the details of one of the best days of my life!

Auntie A Does Guam

2011-12-15T21:57:00.002+10:00

The past two weeks went by way too fast! My baby sister returned to the states this morning and it's rather sad around here. We all had a great time and it was nice to have an extra pair of hands and somebody to talk to while E worked. I did feel bad for her, as little E got two teeth while she was here and he was dealing with some major separation anxiety (read: whining. almost every waking moment. fun.). She didn't seem to mind, though, and said she enjoyed seeing us, the island, and-oh yea, not having to work or do school work. So she took way more pictures than I did and I forgot to get hers, but that doesn't mean there's a shortage of sub-par photos to share with you all!

A drive around the south end of Guam that got rudely interrupted by...a baby mishap. Yea, let's leave it at that.

Harvest Baptist Church's Festival of Lights

Gratuitous sleeping baby shot

A's first time snorkeling

Spending time at the pool

The Harlem Globetrotters happened to be "in town" last weekend. This was another late night and Little E was such a trooper! (I'm assuming you can spot the guy sitting on the basketball hoop!)

Same beach, different day. The baby and I hung out at Gab Gab while the rest of the crew went snorkeling.

This needs no explanation! What? It does? Oh. Well, it's the lunar eclipse! We had fun laying on the sidewalk in the middle of the night laughing at stupid stuff. I'm sure our neighbors weren't so amused. Sorry! You can't tell, but there were about a million stars visible that night. Breathtaking!

Oh, look! It's not Gab Gab. It's Ratidian, for those of you in the know. We rarely go up there since it's such a long drive (for Guam), but we really wanted to take A up there, and it did not disappoint!

Just one underwater photo from one of many days of snorkeling. Does anybody know what kind of fish this is? I'd never seen it before, but they're apparently friendly, as one followed both of our groups around the whole time we were there. Fun!

One random story that I wanted to make a note of so that I'll remember: my sister's best friend, who I knew growing up as well, is a Marine who's currently deployed. The day after A got here we both got a message from his mom stating that his ship was off the coast of Guam! What are the odds of that?! Unfortunately they didn't come into port, but it was so crazy to think that A and her best friend both ended up on the other side of the world together.

Now that this trip is over, it's time to look at what's next: Little E's birthday, Christmas, and a fun trip in January! Before I know it we'll be off The Rock and back at ~~Starbuck's~~ ~~Target~~ home with our family!

A Little Bit of Christmas in Your Mailbox

2011-12-14T21:33:00.003+10:00

So first of all...oops. I had every intention of keeping a great record of my sister's visit. Instead, I was busy actually enjoying my sister's visit. Novel idea, no? We tried to get out and show her the island almost daily, and by evening I was too tired to do anything but lay on the couch and watch tv or play band hero (yay for having someone to play the drums!). So more on the trip tomorrow, but tonight I thought I'd share our Christmas card! I love getting other people's photo cards regardless of their family size, but for some silly reason I didn't want to send one out until we had a baby. After waiting so long you can imagine how excited I was about our card this year! Our stateside friends and family have received their cards and I expect to finish delivering cards to our Guam friends by the end of the week, so I feel like I can post here without ruining the surprise. =)

Tada! It's a bit grainy because ~~I'm a little dumb~~ I was unsure of how to get a good screenshot, but I love how our first family Christmas card turned out! How cute is my kid?! I know, I'm biased, but even if I weren't I'd still think he's stinking cute. I ordered through Tiny Prints, not only because they have beautiful cards, but also because I was able to have them send our cards directly to our stateside people and the rest to me to distribute here. It's a little impersonal, but with the way the mail's been running lately there was no guarantee that I would receive the cards and get them back to the states in time. I figure it's better than no card at all! Next year I'll spend hours painstakingly addressing cards by hand...

So there it is! I sent out quite a few and am hoping to get quite a few back! I know a lot of people don't do Christmas cards anymore, but I just love them. I may or may not already have some designs bookmarked for next year's cards...

Linking up with Faith's Christmas Card Carousel!

Don't Worry About a Thing

2011-12-03T21:59:00.000+10:00

'Cuz every little thing is gonna be alright. ;)

Little E's still sick, we're all tired, and I still hate United, but Auntie A is here! Looking forward to a fun-filled two weeks!

Thanks for the kind words on that last, middle-of-the-night post. It was a stressful day!

A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

2011-12-02T04:59:00.000+10:00

Sigh.

This weekend had the potential to be great. It still does, but it sure is starting out awful. Wednesday Little E developed a low grade fever. My pediatrician reassured me that anything below 102 was nothing to be worried about, and the baby's temperature was not that high. When he was still feverish yesterday and began acting a bit lethargic, I got nervous. As his motrin wore off I took his temperature and was not happy-the thermometer read 103. Of course I wanted to have him looked at and of course this was after regular office hours, so as soon as E got home we gave the baby a warm bath and headed into the emergency room, just to be safe. We were in and out of the ER in ninety minutes (Only On Guam-in a good way!) and after a check up and a chest xray (standing outside listening to your sick baby wail=heartbreaking) it was determined that it was probably "just" a virus.

I say "just" because I'm a first time mom and anything attached to a 103 degree fever is not "just" anything. It's even less "just" something when your baby wakes up at three in the morning and proceeds to get sick in your bed.

Now, while that last bit was happening, I was awaiting the news of my sisters arrival after the first portion of her flight here. Yay, right? I kept an eye on the flight status and she was set to arrive at her first stop early which, great, more time to get to her next flight. So A arrives at the airport only to find that her flight is delayed for maintenance...for six hours. Meaning it gets to Hawaii a good thirty minutes after her flight to Guam is set to leave.

Have a mentioned my sister is nineteen? And that this is her first time flying alone? Fan. Tastic.

So here I am, laying in bed in Little E's nursery-turned-guest room, praying that this all works out. I'm trying to be thankful, and focusing on something that our pastor in San Diego used to say. That we often focus on what God gives us and often fail to consider what He keeps from us. I'm thinking about how I have no idea what what have played out had A been able to make her flight here today. I'm trying to trust that God knows and that He's allowed all of this to happen for a reason. I'm trying to tell myself that my son will recover fully and quickly, my sister will arrive safely, and and that with enough coffee I'll be able to make it through tomorrow and go on to have a great couple of weeks enjoying some much needed family times.

But if anybody has a crystal ball or a fast forward button, one of those would be nice, too.

Eleven Months Down, One to Go

2011-11-30T22:23:00.000+10:00

I can't believe that this time next month I'll have a one year old! I've been going through pictures to print (since I haven't had any printed since March!), and it's hard to fathom that in the course of 335 days my baby has gone from this

to this

and from this

to this

Hah! Did I mention Little E turned eleven months on Thanksgiving? There was neither enough time nor patience to get a better picture than this, but this is pretty indicative of our days. Little E just does not stop. It's exhausting and a ton of fun. What's most enjoyable is watching him figure things out. He inspects everything closely and leans out of his stroller anytime he's in it in an effort to take every single thing in. He is saying Dada, doggie, kitty and "ack ack" (read: quack quack) (read: duck). Of course, I could never prove it since he has yet to show off his talents. The closest he came was last Friday when, after having our Christmas photos taken, I told Little E to tell our photographer thank you, and he mimicked me almost exactly! So fun! At least I think so. I'm sure every other mom is equally enthralled by their child, but of course I think mine is something special. But I also think I'm supposed to. =)

One of Those Weekends

2011-11-29T22:51:00.000+10:00

This weekend was one of those weekends. The kind after which you lay in bed on Sunday night with a smile on your face hoping you'll tuck it away in the back of your mind to smile about later. It was busy, productive, fun, exhausting, and festive! It included a Christmas photo session

[In the car before]

and a much needed hair appointment.


[You're welcome.]

It included Christmas cookie baking and a play date with the neighbors for me and the baby, and diving for E.

Photo of the diving? Check. Photo of the baking? MIA.

There was Christmas music, Christmas movies, Christmas decorating, Christmas present wrapping-do you see a pattern here? I'm doing everything I can to get into the Christmas spirit and so far it's working! I know Little E won't remember this year, but it will be our first Christmas at home as a family (it's actually Little E's second Christmas, but we were still in the hospital!) and I want to make it super fun for him. So here's hoping for several more weekends just like this one in December!

Guam: Where America's [Thanksgiving] Day Begins.

2011-11-25T23:54:00.000+10:00

Guam is fifteen hours ahead of the east coast. This means that as we headed to bed last night our family was just putting their turkey in the oven. Being so far away hurts a little more on holidays, but in the spirit of being thankful I reminded myself of the many blessings in our lives and set out to make Little E's first Thanksgiving a fantastic one. We are fortunate enough to have a great group of friends here, so after preparing a couple of appetizers and sides we headed to our friends' house where the main event took place.

Anybody know how hard it is to get a clear picture of three babies all looking at the camera? Trick question! It's impossible! After spending some time together we all ate ourselves sleepy, including Little E, who probably consumed more salt and sugar than he's had over his entire eleven months. It's safe to say he's a big fan of Thanksgiving, especially when you consider how much he got loved on by our friends.

This is unfortunately the best family photo we got yesterday-our son wanting nothing to do with picture time and me trying to make him want something to do with picture time. We stayed with friends for a few hours and then returned home for pjs and our Thanksgiving tradition.

Every year since we've been married E and I have watched White Christmas on Thanksgiving evening. This year, so we could all take part, we bucked tradition a bit and skipped to the last five minutes (the best five minutes!). It was so fun to watch it as a family, and Little E was enthralled by his first movie-watching experience. He went to bed a bit late and the long day obviously took its toll on him, as this is how I found him sleeping when I checked on him before I went to bed.

Looks comfy! E says the boy gets his funky sleep positions from me, but I told him I won't believe it until I see it-so he plans to get photographic proof.

Little E's first Thanksgiving was such a great one. I do look forward to spending our next Thanksgiving with family, but I know that I'll look back on this special day with so much fondness!

Thanks + Giving

2011-11-22T20:59:00.001+10:00

I have a confession to make. Here we are, two days before Thanksgiving, and I've realized something pretty awful about myself: I am not thankful. I mean, I say prayers of thanks for my wonderful husband and my amazing son, but then I turn around and whine about all the things wrong with my life. I'm stuck on Guam, I don't have family nearby to give me a break, STOP PAUSING THE DVR, E!, waaah the power's out for a half hour.

Pah-thetic.

I think about people in other parts of the world whose jaws would drop at the sight of what we have on Guam. Who wouldn't know what to make of the fact that we have central air conditioning. Who would give anything to have the husband and son that I do. Who would look at the leftovers we scrape into the trash as more than they get to eat in a week. (Yes, I went there. Children in Africa would like to have those Brussels sprouts on my plate.)

Since living on Guam I go through phases of self-pity, and that's something I've never done before. Why? Oh, that's right, because I've always gotten my way. Lived where I wanted, saw who I wanted, bought what I wanted as soon as I wanted it. I am blessed. And not just when I can be, see, and buy what I want. I always have a loving God, He has given me that wonderful husband and amazing son, and all I have needed His hand has provided. All of my complaining says to other people, "My God doesn't take care of me. He doesn't fulfill my needs and give me my heart's desires in His time." And that's not true at all. SO I need to start letting that be known-that God gives me exactly what I need, when I need it. The first step to doing that, of course, is constantly reminding myself of that truth.

Let's be honest. This realization isn't going to stop the pity parties completely, but I do hope that I'll be more aware and able to snap myself out of them and instead be thankful for all that I do have-and not just on Thanksgiving.

Switching gears just slightly, I want to encourage anybody who's blessed enough to have their family, their health, and their needs met, to show their thankfulness by giving to those who might be lacking any one of those things. Choose one or more organizations that touch you personally and give monthly if you can or give a small one time donation if that's what you can manage. For us, we're daily thankful for a healthy Little E who has all of his needs met and then some, so we support St. Jude's in hopes that we can help somebody whose baby isn't so healthy. We're also in the process of sponsoring a child through Compassion. I say "in the process" because, oh, my aching heart. I just can't decide which of these sweet children to sponsor. How do you choose? I need to see if they have a "pick for me" option because I've had children's profiles open in my browser for two weeks trying to decide. Help me out and sponsor one, will ya? I'll feel less guilty about not being able to sponsor them all.

One more thing and I'm finished!

I also encourage you to drop off some cookies to your local police or fire station, or send off a package to a deployed service member in your life. Don't know one personally? "Adopt" one here. So many of them are away from their families for the holidays, and I know from my husband and our friends that it means the world to them to be thought of.

So skip your Starbucks, your dinner out, or your new top, and do something great! Giving is actually a little selfish, I think, because it just feels so dang good!

Something to Look Forward To

2011-11-18T20:52:00.000+10:00

Aren't we an attractive bunch! I'm so excited to be able to say that my baby sister is coming to visit next month! She'll be the first to come out to Guam and presumably the only one, since we'll be leaving in a few months. The last time A saw us was in March and Little E looked like this:

Quite the difference! Thanks to Skype Little E sees Auntie A weekly, so I'm sure they'll have a happy reunion. And I'll enjoy the sister time and a little help with my more mobile by the day little boy! Let the countdown begin!

Back When I Was Double Wide

2011-11-17T22:14:00.000+10:00

Just another one of those out-of-date posts about when I was pregnant. Just like everything else that I do, I was very inconsistent with the "belly shot" photos. I tried to take them weekly; I failed. I tried to take them in the same place facing the same direction; I failed. I tried to take them; I failed. So here are a few of the pictures I actually have of myself when I was with child (side note: there is exactly one picture of me and E together when I was pregnant. Oops.). The last one was taken a week before I was induced. I wasn't expecting to give birth so soon and the big mean (wonderful!) nurses wouldn't even let me take off my fetal monitor to get one last photo. The nerve.

So there you have it. Of course, in that first picture I thought I was showing. What can I say? I was excited to be pregnant and in denial that any belly that I had was due to fertility treatments and not the microscopic person inside. And that last one? Well, they said I was measuring small. Compared to what, I ask? It will be interesting to see what I look like at 40 weeks with the next baby if that's small!

[Almost] Wordless Wedesday: An Angry Elf

2011-11-16T20:59:00.001+10:00

Silly pajamas are ok.

Silly Santa hats are not.

That was eight dollars well spent.

[Can anybody else tell I took these pictures on two different cameras? Yea, me either.]

Soft Ginger Cookies

2011-11-14T22:46:00.000+10:00

Rarely do I post just to share a recipe, but ~~I had a boring weekend~~ this one is worth it. Even if these ginger cookies tasted awful, they'd be worth making because they make your house smell like Christmas. I'm pretty sure everyone knows what I mean: sweet, spicy, warm. Thankfully, these cookies also taste amazing. After I inhaled a half dozen right out of the oven, I sent E to the neighbor's house to share the wealth. Said neighbors deemed them the best cookies they had ever had, and while I'm pretty sure that was just their way of securing future batches of baked goods, these cookies are delicious. Just a note before I get on with it and share the recipe-I'm a lazy cookie maker. I'm not a big fan of mixing dry ingredients before adding them to wet ingredients. It just dirties another bowl and I've never noticed a difference when I've made the extra effort!

Soft Ginger Cookies

originally from allrecipes.com

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar

1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup molasses
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar

Preheat oven to 350* and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl cream together butter and one cup sugar. Blend in egg, followed by water and molasses (spray your measuring cup with cooking spray to keep the molasses from sticking). Sprinkle spices, salt, and baking soda into wet ingredients and mix until well blended. Add flour and stir just until combined. Drop dough by the tablespoon directly into 1/4 cup sugar; transfer to prepared baking sheets and flatten the dough balls with your fingers or the back of a spoon. Bake for 10 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Transfer to a cooling rack until cookies are just cool enough to handle, then try to save a few for your husband. Makes 2 dozen

Thank a Veteran

2011-11-11T20:38:00.000+10:00

My husband has made sacrifices, saved lives, and witnessed unimaginable tragedies. He has been through things that only his brothers and sisters in arms can understand.

Regardless of political leanings, I think we can all agree that the lives led by United States soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, and coast guards are ones of courage and selflessness. After you finish enjoying those pictures up there of 90's E, be sure to take a minute to thank a service member today.

2 on Tuesday: Christmas Wish List

2011-11-09T00:32:00.000+10:00

It's technically Wednesday here (and I really need to go to bed), but this popped up in my feed and looked like something fun and quick to post: two things on your Christmas wishlist.

Pretty and practical, these have been on my wishlist for a while and would most definitely get a lot of use here on Guam. When I went to grab a picture of the fuschia ones I thought I wanted, this color caught my eye and I think I like it even better:

(via Zappos)

Bright and bold, while still neutral enough to go with a lot. For some reason my husband doesn't think it prudent to spend $125 on rain boots, so they go on my "frivolous things I can't justify on a non-holiday" list. I don't always have expensive taste, though. This is numero dos on my list:

(via Amazon)

I love fresh bread but don't always feel like making it. I've heard great things about this book and I'd love to stop buying (previously frozen) bread at the store!

Click on the button up top and share what's on your wishlist so I can discover more things I never knew I needed!

Monday Randoms

2011-11-07T20:27:00.000+10:00

Does anyone who has older children and thus is no longer in the position of being judged want to come clean about when my kid will really start sleeping through the night? Little E did for a little while and now he's back to a one o'clock wake up and up for the day by six. Not cool.

I've been really slacking in the picture taking department lately. Oh, wait, here's this one of my son, crawling around in the rain.

No shoes, no shirt, I'm such a good mom.

You know you've been on Guam too long when you spend a portion of nap time browsing the websites of your favorite restaurants just to see if they've added any new menu items. I also periodically look at the Target ad online, just because I'm a glutton for punishment.

If you're on Guam, don't forget that everyone back in the states is now an additional hour behind us. I'll most likely forget until the week before they spring forward again.

I've bought Little E an obscene amount of clothes over the past week or so. In my defense, I got great deals and most of what I've purchased is for next winter. You know the old saying ~~that I just made up~~ - if you can't have seasons, just buy clothes for them!

Last night I accidentally watched Captain America with E. I say accidentally because I've bowed out of recent viewings of Thor and Transformers 3 and had planned on doing the same for this one. I figured the dozen superhero movies I've already watched with my husband met my good-wife-who-watches-superhero-movies quota. I got sucked in, though, and I have to say it was pretty good. It was fun to see them tie in the Iron Man movies, which I enjoyed, and connect the dots to what my husband tells me will be an Avengers movie next year. Who's excited? ...anyone?

That pretty much sums up my weekend. It was one part pathetically boring and one part just the way I like it!

Shopping and Shipping on Guam

2011-11-03T21:37:00.001+10:00

A lot of people who contact me through the blog in preparation for a move to Guam have one question in common: shopping and product availability here on the island. Since I started stimulating the economy with lots of holiday purchases this past week, I thought I'd talk about shopping and shipping here on Guam!

Stores that are known stateside are fairly limited on Guam. Off the top of my head, we have:

Macy's
Sears (I haven't been in, but I'm told it's a home store only)
Ross
Nine West
Famous Footwear
KMart

There's rumor that we'll be getting a Gap in the coming months, buuuut I'll believe it when I see it! There are also many local retailers, ranging from furniture to clothes to natural products. If you're military you will additionally have access to the Navy Exchange and the Anderson BX, which both have a fairly decent selection.

Here are links to Guam's shopping centers and malls:

Since being here, there have surprisingly been very few things that I haven't either been able to find here or order online. Baby items and clothing for me seem to pose the biggest challenge, but as someone told me when we first got here, you just learn to do without. Can you see me rolling my eyes, folding my arms across my chest, and sighing dramatically when I heard that the first time?

Speaking of ordering online...more and more retailers are shipping to Guam. If you're military, you have another added benefit here as even more companies ship to FPO/APO addresses, which you or your spouse should be able to obtain from your sponsor even before you arrive on island. The website we and others that we know use most is Amazon.com, because what can't you get on Amazon? There are certain things that they cannot ship overseas (the product page will tell you that), but most of our shopping needs can be met by Amazon. I encourage you to check out the shipping policies on your favorite store websites-you'll be surprised how many you can order from! Keep in mind, there is a shipping premium on many websites. While Gap, Old Navy, Carters, and Amazon, for example, offer their standard shipping rates, others, such as Gymboree and Diapers.com, charge an extra fee, ranging from an extra five dollars to an extra thirty or forty dollars. Cases like those are where you learn very quickly to buy in bulk or combine orders with friends and split the shipping!

Finally, a word to the wise: if you're shipping a box back to the states or expecting friends or family to ship things to you, use priority mail. Please. We made the mistake once of shipping the last of our belongings via first class mail and we learned the hard way that it will take six weeks or more for the boat to get from the states to Guam. Priority mail is a little more expensive but completely worth it since packages usually take only a week to get here. Take advantage of flat rate boxes!

I think that's it! I know this post is a little all over the place and full of a lot of run-on sentences and too many exclamation points, but hopefully it was somewhat helpful. Again, you will probably still miss running to Target on a whim (I know I do, *sob*), but you do get used to making do!

Make sure you check out the comments on this post-there's some great info provided!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

2011-11-02T19:42:00.001+10:00

It's November-do you know what that means?!

Thanksgiving PJs,

Christmas music,

favorite movies,

and even more baking than usual!

No, no decorations yet-that last picture is from Christmas past. I did break out the Christmas music today, and I'm tempted to start pulling out the decor before Thanksgiving. I promise you the tree will wait until November 26, but I was too ~~lazy~~ pregnant to put up decorations last year so I'm aching to get started!

Bring on the holidays!

Holiday Craft Fair and the Time I Got Stuck in the Mud

2011-11-01T21:18:00.001+10:00

Saturday I met up with some friends to attend the USO Holiday Art and Craft Fair. We had fun wandering around the two buildings full of local crafts and foods, as well as booths representing different MLM products (Pampered Chef, Scentsy, Thirty-One, etc.). Little E wasn't a big fan of the Ergo that day (he usually is!) so my hands were busy carrying the baby instead of taking cute pictures of him.

The real fun started when we left the show, though. Top O' the Mar was pretty packed, so I, along with a few dozen other cars, parked in the grass across the street. Um, did yall know it rains a lot on Guam? Apparently talking about car issues begets more car issues, because I, along with several others, got stuck in the mud. I was rather annoyed because do you think anybody was there warning people not to park too far into the grass? Of course not, but there were surely a few different tow trucks waiting to charge us $125 to get out! One particular man decided to hover near my car as I pulled back, turned, pulled forward a dozen times, slowly inching my way toward the jungle while trying to get out of the hole my tires were digging. He asked me about my insurance, told me I wasn't going to be able to get out, and waved other prospective tow trucks past because he had staked his claim. I was more than a little irritated and was not planning on paying this guy a dime even if I did need a tow. I was pretty set on not needing one, though. After calling E I switched Little E's car seat to my friend's car and we drove home. Then Super Husband returned with my fantastic friend to work his car magic. You know I had my friend take pictures of this, and while I'd love to share all of them so you all could point and laugh at me, most of them obviously feature our car so I'll just leave you with...

The aftermath!

Oh, the excitement I get myself into! At least it was a fun story for my husband to tell at the birthday party we attended later that day. So if you're driving past Top O' the Mar, check out the interesting landscaping and think of us. I definitely recommend that those of you on island this time next year check out the arts and crafts fair-and I highly recommend you stay out of the grass.

The Halloween Grinch

2011-10-31T19:34:00.001+10:00

Have I mentioned that I love fall (when is she not mentioning it, they ask)? I'm not so big on the spooky aspects of Halloween, but I do love handing out candy and seeing kids giddily run around the neighborhood in costumes. However, I perhaps remember myself as a more polite child than I was? Because each year I'm slightly disenchanted by several things. Tonight consisted of:

*Many, many children not saying a word to me, be it "Trick or Treat!" "Thank you!" or even "That's all?!"

*Many "children" who were taller than me-I'm 5' 9". I account for an early growth spurt here and there, but I didn't know this many giant children lived in our neighborhood.

*If you are a giant child who chooses to go Trick or Treating, ok. Have fun. Wear a costume.

*At the beginning of the night I had the bowls of candy sitting on a table inside my door since I had the baby in one arm. I figured it'd be easier to open the door and say "Take three pieces!" and give anyone who wasn't of counting age a little grace. A little girl (definitely of counting age) took the equivalent of a half bag of candy and when I prompted her to "Leave some for everybody else, sweetie!" she proceeded to take another half bag.

*A dad who apparently saw the candy inside the door, because after I heard the bell ring and rounded the corner to answer, I saw a guy holding my door open, telling his kids to take some!

*A little boy about four or five yelled "No!" at me when I told him he could take another piece.

Ok, that last one was pretty hilarious because I can only assume he had it drilled into his head before leaving home that he was to take only one piece at each house. There were plenty of polite kids, too (to those of you who know me, I assure you yours all were!), but sometimes I feel like just turning my light off and eating all the candy myself. ~~I eat half of it, anyway.~~

As for my son? Well, true to Trick or Treat Grinch form, he doesn't know the difference so I couldn't see spending money on a costume he'd cry about wearing for half an hour. He wore his scary shirt today, and was in bed in his rock star pjs by seven. Now I'm off to "fix" the neighborhood pumpkins, just like the Grinch fixed Cindy Lou Who's tree.

(Kidding, of course-don't call the cops on me!)

The Time I Wandered Around on the Highway at Night

2011-10-28T22:22:00.000+10:00

So. It's rainy season here. And by rainy season, I mean rainy year, because I can't remember a time that it wasn't raining. So far, according to weather.com, there have been exactly three days this months that it hasn't rained. Do you know what that means? It means that this week has been full of a whole lot of nothing. If you haven't noticed, most of what there is to do here is done outside. Doing nothing=nothing to write about. I thought I'd take this opportunity to tell random stories about my pregnancy since I failed to document it at all, either here or in the pregnancy journal I spent twenty-five bucks on. They're probably not going to be in order, but I might go back and put them in order so that when I print our "Two Years Stuck on Guam" Blurb book, it'll make a little more sense. And here we go.

Because we're schmucks, E and I always end up traveling to see our family and friends and they rarely travel to see us (I'm not bitter). There were no exceptions when I was pregnant, so in my seventh month I hopped a plane back to San Diego to see friends and then to the east coast to see family. After two and a half weeks of traveling I spent a few more days in San Diego to break up the trip.

Wanna know how great that worked out? My friend (whose kids I used to watch when we lived in San Diego) was 39.5 weeks pregnant with her third child. Her parents were in town and her husband was deployed. Wouldn't you know that the night I got back into town, she went into labor. Perfect! I stayed home with the two kids and she and her parents were off to the hospital. The following day I got them up to meet their new baby sister, and that evening I borrowed her second car to go to a church thing to see more friends.

I have no idea what happened next. That's not true, I sort of do, but it all seems like a bad dream-I must have gone into shock. I was driving along not speeding and taking the exit to go to church. All of a sudden I was the forth car in a four car accident. The airbag was in my face, the car was smoking, and I was wandering around the median crying, "I'm pregnant! I'm pregnant!" I'm tearing up as I write this because it was one of the scariest days of my life so far. The accident wasn't terrible, although the totaled car suggests otherwise, but I was just so incredibly scared for my little boy. I surely looked both insane and pathetic that night. I called 911 to report the accident and, as a precaution, they sent an ambulance to take me to the nearby navy hospital for monitoring-the same hospital where my friend and her newborn baby were still patients. Everything checked out ok, except that I was having mild contractions. As I was talking to the doctor, in walks my friend in her matching hospital gown. If I wasn't crying out of guilt for totaling her car, I probably could have laughed.

After a preliminary check the doctor decided to admit me to monitor the contractions (I was only twenty-eight weeks pregnant) and my friend and I walked back up to labor and delivery together. The rest of my stay consisted of a half dozen attempts at putting in an IV, a very awkward ultrasound admitted by a very new, male med school student, Starbucks and visits from friends, and this picture.

Because all normal pregnant women take pictures of themselves while admitted due to preterm labor after a car accident, right? What can I say, I was bored and alone. As a side note, what's up with my eyebrow?

Obviously the ending to this story is a happy one, which is why I'm ok with documenting it so I don't forget this very...eventful...trip back to the states. I got discharged after twenty-four hours or so, I was able to make my flight home the next day, and, of course, the coolest kid that's ever lived in my belly ended up being just fine.

Ten Months Old?!

2011-10-25T21:56:00.001+10:00

Remember how I said September dragged? Well, October definitely did not.

We stayed busy, we had fun, and another month of our son's life whizzed by us.

I feel like I just took Little E's nine month photo, and now he's ten months old. And because he wasn't looking old enough already, I had to go and buzz the kid's head. I was wavering on whether or not to give him another haircut, but the decision was made when I saw this picture.

Just say no to mullets, kids.

So after his monthly photos were taken, I took out the razor and put the same.exact.guard. on it that I have for his other trims, yet somehow it came out so much shorter this time.

Insert unreasonably sad face here. I'm afraid this has scarred both of us for life. It's quite possible that Little E will not get another haircut until he's 25. Because never cutting his hair again will make him stay my baby forever, right?

Is it Monday Already?

2011-10-24T21:03:00.001+10:00

Where did the weekend go? Ours is a bit extended since E got an extra two days off for doing well on his PRT (physical readiness test), but all of our friends are back to work already and half the fun of the weekend is getting together with them! A large portion of the weekend was devoted to E's dive certification. Remember way back when I gifted him what he needed to learn to SCUBA? Yea, well his work schedule and our personal schedule finally allowed the time that was needed.

This is obviously a picture of E snorkeling, but you'll have to use your imagination since there's no way you'll ever catch me 45 feet below the surface of the ocean. If God wanted me to do that, I'd have gills. As a side note, if He wanted me to fly I'd have wings.

Saturday night we left the house together sans baby for the first time since we got back from our February visit to the states. Little E has had a babysitter once before, but it was because I was partying it up at the endodontist. This "date" was actually a hail and farewell, where E's command welcomed newcomers and said goodbye to those ~~whose sentences are up~~ moving. We were there all of an hour and the babysitter didn't come until after the boy was in bed, but it's a start. Maybe next time we'll stay away a bit longer and do something fun...not that command functions aren't fun...

After E was all dive certified and such on Sunday, Little E and I met him and our friends down at Gab Gab (yes, again). We actually took turns watching the babies this time so that we could go snorkeling with our respective spouses. Pay no attention to the sticker that I forgot to take off of my mask, because it has no bearing on the fact that I'm apparently a pro snorkeler. After we had been in the water for a few minutes I spotted an octopus! In case you were wondering, they're ugly, but I've heard from several friends that most people go on dozens of dives before seeing one. Much like my son, this thing stopped being at all entertaining as soon as we got the video camera going, so here's twelve seconds of an octopus swimming...and then doing nothing at all.

Then there's the obligatory picture of our adorable babies. I expect Q to be my daughter-in-law someday. ;)

Cast Iron Cooking

2011-10-21T21:53:00.001+10:00

My grandmother would be either very proud or very disappointed to find out that I finally got my first cast iron skillet a few weeks ago! I guess I should have had one for a while now, but I'm excited to learn to love it, nonetheless. So far I've been trying to season it by cooking bacon, using butter, etc., but I've been pinning a few recipes that I'm looking forward to trying!

Source: southernliving.com via Pam on Pinterest

Perhaps the only thing better than apple pie...is apple pie in a cast iron skillet?

Source: thepioneerwoman.com via Pam on Pinterest

It's Pioneer Woman. I think that's all we need to know.

Source: justapinch.com via Pam on Pinterest

I'm not a huge cake fan, but I make an exception for pineapple upside down cake.

Source: foodnetwork.com via Pam on Pinterest

I think it might be illegal in the southern states to make cornbread in anything but a cast iron skillet. This is a must for Thanksgiving!

These are officially on my "to make" list. Anybody have any other recipes I need to add?

Linking up with paw prints and pastry bags!

Life Lessons, Courtesy of a Blonde

2011-10-18T21:00:00.000+10:00

I know this is ground breaking advice here, you guys, but listen closely: If you're feeling cooped up, get out of the house. I should probably write a book. That's deep stuff right there. We have, indeed, been feeling cooped up, so the second that Little E woke up from his morning nap yesterday, we were out the door until dinner time. We started the afternoon off with playtime (for little E and his friend Q) and coffee (for mama and her friend L). When the babies started getting antsy, the boy and I hopped back in the car for a nap-inducing (...for little E) drive. We ended up at the top of Nimitz Hill at an overlook that I'd somehow previously passed by.

I know it's a little blurry, but I only had my point and shoot (she says, pretending the photo would be better with the DSLR). I was a little early for sunset, but it was still an amazing view! And speaking of amazing views, check out the homes on Flag Circle, where several of the commanding officers live.

There are probably worse things to see out of your back window, huh?

One of the best parts of the day was taking advantage of little E's new trick. As if I didn't already take too many photos of him, he's made it all the more enjoyable by learning what "Cheese!!!" means. And what's more fun than that?

Guam is Tricky

2011-10-17T22:42:00.001+10:00

Is anybody getting tired of me posting about the beach? Because right now that's Guam's saving grace. By Friday night I'm ready to abandon ~~ship~~ island and get out of here. Then we spend the weekend at the beach and all of a sudden Guam's not so bad.

We had planned on going to Spanish Steps on Saturday, but it was closed due to a ship being in port so we ended up at Gab Gab once again. It was fun, though, because for the first time little E actually seemed aware of his friend, and Q took notice of E, too. Granted, they didn't so much play as Q got trampled by E and E threw a tantrum when Q tried to steal his baby crack. Still, it was entertaining.

It wouldn't be a trip to the beach if little E didn't try to drink filthy sea water. Sigh.

Sunday I made a last ditch effort to see The Help at the base theater, only to show up to find it had been replaced by a stupid comedy I'd never heard of. Change of plans, my friend J and I ended up snorkeling. After a little while I had had my share of wearing E's leaking goggles and carrying around a gallon of water in his too-big-for-me-boots, so off we went to buy some snorkel gear.

Hah! If I knew I looked like this I would have never started snorkeling. So here's hoping we're able to mix it up a little next weekend and take pictures at a different beach.

More Attached Than I Thought I'd Be

2011-10-15T00:25:00.002+10:00

Whether or not they're vocal about it, I think most everybody has opinions on parenting-even before they're a parent. I know I did, and now that I am a mom I do my best to refrain from the "Just you wait!"s. You know the scenario:

Child Free Woman: Man, when I have kids they're going to know from the very beginning that I'm in control. If they're fed, clean, and rested, they'll just have to learn that they don't get picked up every time they cry.

New Mom: Oh, just you wait!

Child Free Woman: You know, when I'm a mom I'm never going to let my kids cry. They're my number one priority and if I have to hold them 24 hours a day to make them happy, I will.

New Mom: Oh, just you wait!

I know from experience that those new moms can be, to put it bluntly, obnoxious. Everyone is entited to their own parenting ideas, and everyone is entitled to change those views as they learn and grow as a parent.

I spent almost every free moment of my teenage years babysitting (I was super cool) and almost all of my pre-baby adult years were spent as a nanny, so I've been witness to many different styles of parenting. I had some strong ideas about the kind of mother I'd be, and in a lot of ways I've maintained those positions. There's one way, though, that I've surprised myself: I'm much more attached than I though I'd be. According to Dr. Sears, attachment parenting can be summed up in seven B's: birth bonding, breastfeeding, baby wearing, bedding close to baby, belief in the language value of your baby's cry, beware of baby trainers, and balance. Now, that doesn't mean I'd be welcomed with open arms by strict AP parents. I seem to be pretty moderate on most issues. I had a sort of "Que sera, sera" attitude about breastfeeding before Little E was born, and now I'm sad thinking about weaning a few months from now. I'm still of the mindset that you need to do what's best for you and your baby, but I'm surprised that nursing has been what's best for us. E and I both do our fair share of baby wearing, but I still see the value in giving the baby plenty of time to play by himself. Little E slept in our room for just over six months and, while I still miss having him close by at night, I knew it was the right time to move him to his own room.

So yea, I'm not crunchy enough for one side of the aisle, and I'm certainly not "detached" enough for the other side. I'm sure half of the people I know are whispering about my son who is, thanks to the trifecta that is teething, sickness, and growth spurts, back to a 4:00 a.m. waking, while the other half think I'm an awful mother for beginning sleep training at seven months instead of waiting longer. I'm sure that with my next child I'll alter some of my parenting methods, but so far I have very few regrets. That's not to say that everything has gone smoothly. My son is very stubborn and very attached to me, but I can't say if I parent the way that I do because of the way he is, or if he is the way he is because of the way I parent. However, I can say without I doubt that my mommy decisions have been a result of a lot of prayer and with the interests of three people in mind: my son, my husband, and myself. Although I feel like I can improve so much as a mother and strive each day to do so, I do hope that as parents my husband and I please God. Our son is such a blessing to us, stubborn and attached as he is, and that's our goal: to be the kind of parents God leads us to be.

So if you've read through all this rambling of mine and are looking for my best, most unsolicited piece of parenting advice, it's this: do what's right for your family. Listen to that legendary mother's intuition, because it's almost always spot on. And as long as the decisions you make are in the best interest of your child, I promise I'll do my best not to judge you or throw out an "Oh, you just wait!"

I Never Said I Was All That Bright

2011-10-12T21:06:00.001+10:00

Today somebody scared herself to death.
She was skyping with her mother when all of a sudden she saw somebody walk up behind her. Behind her mother, that is.
But apparently this woman forgot she was looking at a computer screen and not in a mirror, because she about had a heart attack at the sight of somebody walking down the hall of her otherwise empty house.
I wanted to jot this down so I can remember it to laugh about it later, but I'm not going to say who this person was. That would just be embarrassing.

This has nothing to do with this little story, but if you're getting a laugh at my some woman's expense, you bet I'm going to throw in a picture of my adorable kid, just for bragging's sake. =)

Kitchen Things That You Don't Really Need...Except You Do

2011-10-11T21:58:00.000+10:00

A long, long time ago before our house was hit with the plague, I was going to take pictures of our kitchen (and then other rooms) for those of you who have yet to arrive on Guam. I still have plans to do that; it just hasn't happened yet. Thinking about doing it, though, made me realize how much stuff I cram in my kitchen cabinets. I do not like clutter. E often goes looking for something and then asks if it disappeared in the Great Household Purge of [fill in month and year].

However.

It seems I have a thing for kitchen gadgets. I know some people can cook like a five star chef with a stock pot, a whisk, and a wooden spoon, I'm not one of those people. I'm probably kind of lazy and I probably like everything in the kitchen to be as easy as possible. So, without further ado, here are a few of my favorite ~~kitchen cabinet clutterers~~ cooking gadgets.

Let's get this one out of the way. My KitchenAid mixer was one of my first cooking purchases. Go big or go home, right? If you haven't heard, this thing is worth every penny. Especially when you get it for the fewest pennies possible. I'm almost embarrassed about how cheap I got this thing several years ago-it was a black Friday sale plus an "Earn $10 for every $50 you spend and get an extra 110% off if you donate a kidney" kind of thing. I say that to say, you must own one of these-but wait for a good sale. There's no way I would bake as much as I do without it.

Pampered Chef garlic press. It's apparently the best one, but I've never tried another. I use a lot of garlic and I'm not sure how people without a garlic press use a lot of garlic. I think Racheal Ray told me once that using a garlic press makes the garlic bitter, but that doesn't even make sense. I've never had a problem!

This is Pampered Chef, too. I promise I don't work for them, although I probably should since it's one of the few multilevel marketing brands I really love and I could probably make you love it, too. I have used other food choppers-I bought a nice, name brand one first-and this is by far superior. Remember, I'm lazy, and I'm also terribly uncoordinated, so this drastically reduces the number of sliced fingers and saves me time and energy. Double points.

This one I just thought of midpost and added it in. I love my mandoline! I don't have this one, although I think I should upgrade. Mine was a cheapy $15 one I bought on a whim and it does the job well. Even if I wasn't a lazy clutz, I couldn't slice apples thin enough for apple crisp. And apple crisp ranks right up there with oxygen and water on my "must haves" list, so a mandoline is pretty important, too.

This is simple enough, but I use my cookie scoop three or four times a week, and I only make cookies twice a week. (kidding) (sort of) Go for the Oxo, as I've broken several others and this one has lasted for a couple of years now. Besides obviously giving you fantastically uniform cookies, you can also use this for cupcake batter, filling for pastries, pasta, or tortillas, and a bunch of other things that I just haven't come up with. I know it seems silly, but buy it so I can say "I told you so!"

Anybody have any suggestions for handy kitchen things? It's possible that I actually have whatever you recommend hiding in the back of a cupboard...

Randoms from the Long Weekend

2011-10-10T20:09:00.000+10:00

*We saw a couple hundred Russian sailors at the navy base department store yesterday. Of all the days to leave my camera at home!

*We're really getting into some of the new fall tv shows. I DVR Revenge to watch during naptime, and E and I have been really enjoying Person of Interest and Amazing Race (again!) together. Then there's-dare I admit it?-X Factor. It's a total guilty pleasure and so far we're finding it much more tolerable than the other "reality" competitions. I also think we keep tuning in because we can't believe that this guy is 60 years old!

*One of the many drawbacks of Guam is the middle-of-the-night sporting events. E is a South Carolina alum so he was happy to wake up yesterday to find that they had won against UK after being ~~robbed~~ beaten fair and square by Auburn last weekend. ;) And although we only seem to get east coast games here, I was happy to hear that the Chargers are now 4 and 1!

* While out running errands we came across these:

My mom tipped me off on the apple cider k cups and then I saw them being raved about on another blog. I had already asked my mom to ship me a box or two and I was pleasantly surprised to find them at Macy's, followed by a bag of kettle corn that's almost as good as the stuff we used to get at fall festivals. If I can't will the leaves to change, I'll at least put on some poundage eating and drinking fall goodies!

* One of the errands I was out running was a stop at the local beauty supply store. Based on the advice from a friend, I'm going to attempt to wax my own eyebrows. If you see me around looking unusually surprised, you'll know why...

Somebody Take Away My Credit Card

2011-10-07T22:03:00.000+10:00

In case you're the last person on the planet who doesn't know this, shopping for kids is one of the funnest (most fun?) things in the world. Back before Little E, when we lived in San Diego, I nannied for some of the cutest kids ever. My husband half joked that I spent my entire paycheck on my charges and, well, he half joked, because I did spend a lot on them. Little clothes are so hard to resist, and little faces begging for our traditional popcorn, Icee, and dollar spot toy at Target are even harder to resist.

E often said in the early months of my pregnancy that he hoped we had a boy because I would bankrupt us buying a girl clothes. E often said in the later months of my pregnancy and ever since that he's glad we have a boy because if I buy this much stuff for a boy I would really, really bankrupt us if we had a girl. I had no idea shopping for a little boy would be so much fun! Granted, it has its challenges if you don't want your kid daily outfitted in dinosaurs, puppies, and "Wild About Mommy" onesies (although we do sneak one of those in every now and then), but there are some adorable things out there. I do try to do things ~~on the cheap~~ wisely-googling coupon codes, buying things I can't resist in bigger sizes, purchasing only one pair of ridiculously expensive shoes instead of the five that I want. Here are some recent purchases I've made, some of which I'm still waiting for. I'm thankful for priority mail, but I look forward to the day I don't have to wait a whole.entire.week. for my goods. And yes, I'm being dramatic for effect.

Little surf clothes-I can't get enough!

What's cuter than a little baby bum in a pair of itty bitty jeans?

Getting ahead of myself? Perhaps, but are you surprised?

I love Little E's converse and boat shoes, but he won't be in those for a while, so I just ordered a pair of Pedipeds until then. Pretty cute!

Ok, boy mamas, where should I be looking to stock the boy's closet?!

Isn't It Too Soon to Be Wanting Another Baby?

2011-10-06T22:06:00.000+10:00

Well, isn't it? Because, good grief, I think Little E need another little to play with. As many friends that were pregnant when I was last year, I'm not sure how there are still so many women I know getting pregnant around me! I've always wanted two kids, two years apart and even then I thought I was pushing it. One kid is a whole lot easier, and two years apart? A little close for my comfort, but they'd be great playmates. The way I'm feeling now, though, you can expect to see me in TLC's lineup right after the Duggars and Kate Plus Eight reruns.

Little E is finally sleeping pretty darn well and he's such a blast. Suddenly that haze I was in from December of last year until May of this one is a distant memory and I'm ready to do it again? Nuts, I tell you. I'm not exactly feeling the same feelings of envy that I did when I was trying to have my first baby, but every time I see an announcement or E comes home to tell me someone we know is expecting, I have that feeling that I really never should-jealousy. I find myself looking at photos of newborn Little E often, missing the days that he was oh-so-snuggly, all while neglecting to acknowledge how exhausting those early months are.

Sigh. I guess it's a good thing we don't have babies the old fashioned way since, even though right now I think it would be a good idea to add a newborn to the family, I'd probably have some feelings of regret once I realized my days with just Little E are limited. After all, we're having way too much fun to add a stinky old baby to the mix. ;)

One, Two, Three Magic

2011-10-05T21:39:00.002+10:00

One

Two

Three

Magic!

There have been a lot of days in the past couple of weeks that I've been too ~~lazy~~ forgetful to cook, which means E has prepared many a salad and sandwich. I felt guilty about being such a horrible housewife so I figured a big stash of freezer meals would fix the situation a bit. I'm more than happy to spend an entire evening cooking if it means that on those lazy days I feel no obligation to "remember" to prepare dinner, but E still gets some decent food-it's a win-win. Actually, it was a win-win-win, since I was able to clean out my pantry some. Our freezer is now full of:

*Baked ziti (2 pans)

*Turkey chili (1 family sized portion + 5 individual servings)

*Chicken and rice soup (6 individual servings)

*Muffin Tin Turkey Burgers (4 servings)

*Fajita-seasoned steak and onions, ready to grill (2 bags)

*Taco-seasoned ground turkey breast (2 bags)

*Enchiladas (2 pans)

*Taquitos (20, individually wrapped so we can grab as many as we need)

* Frijoles refritos (4 family sides)

*Roasted garlic bread (4 pieces big enough for me and E to share)

*Organic chicken & cheese Little E food

So obviously we like Mexican, chicken, and ground turkey. Part of the reason this was doable is that these dishes have a lot of ingredients in common so I was able to do things in bulk. But this cooking thing I have going on? It's some sort of sickness. One that lies dormant for ~~weeks~~ days and then rears it's ugly head full force. While in the middle of this marathon cooking session, my husband walked by, kissed me, and said with a laugh, "I'm glad you like to cook." That's code for, "Honey, you're nuts. From now on I'm hiding your santoku knife when I go to work."

The second worst part about all of this was the dishes. There really weren't as many as you'd think there would be for so much food but I still (truth in) jestfully asked E to do them. Horrible housewife guilt set in while he was working out, though, and I got to work on them. (He did end up helping out after he finished his workout and while I finished bagging soup!)

The worst part about the freezer meal making? Sorry, Guammies, but be on the lookout for a typhoon in the coming weeks. I predicted one last night after E predicted an impending power outage due to our full freezer. I kid you not, we had one within an hour. And another one this morning. So things aren't looking good for Guam weather because, historically speaking, I'm a much better psychic than my husband is. The bright side, I guess, is that we could throw a very well-fed typhoon party!

My Version of a Craft

2011-10-05T00:18:00.000+10:00

Before

After

Bonus: Check out Guam's pumpkin patch! ;)

I found this t-shirt in the clearance bin for three dollars at Gymboree during our February trip to the States, so I bought it without thinking about the fact that…we live on Guam. However, it was a layered tee so I just cut the long sleeves off and made it island appropriate. You’re impressed, right? Right?! Ok, if not by my craft then by my cute kid? Check out Little E’s Converse! He doesn’t normally wear shoes and these are hard soled and too big, but since we were heading to the grocery store I stuck them on him in case he wanted to walk [holding my hands, of course]. In case you’re wondering, he didn’t. Somebody has a case of separation anxiety and somebody else has a case of I Love You So Much But Pleeaaaase Just Sit in the Cart!

Under the Weather Essentials

2011-10-03T20:30:00.002+10:00

The plague that passed upon our house has finally run it's course and I'm happy to say I'm the only one the felt the full effects of it. The sore throat and exhaustion were soon accompanied by some wicked sinus thing for me, but Little E was back to normal by Friday. It worked out nicely that E had a rare three day weekend so he was able to take care of the boy while I was laid up. I have to say, in true cheesy-first-time-mom form, the worst part of the whole thing was having such limited contact with Little E, especially when he was trying to break down the door to get to me. There were a lot of trips out to the family room for side hugs and back of the head kisses, and then I'd return back to the bedroom with nothing but my under the weather essentials to keep me company.

Chicken soup, lots of water, reading material, and hand sanitizer (not pictured: hours of Gilmore Girls on DVD).

Even sick, I'm not a fan of canned soup, so I used some leftover chicken in the refrigerator to make my own. Can I just say that it's really cruel to get a cold without Autumn? Proof that people were meant to enjoy seasons: everything that is comforting when you have a cold is also meant to be enjoyed in cooler weather-soup, tea, hot showers, all of it. Whining over; here's the recipe for some tasty, easy soup!

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Adapted from allrecipes.com

1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup minced onion
2 cloves minced garlic
3/4 cup AP flour
1 package quick cooking long grain and wild rice (with seasoning)
2 cups milk
4 cups chicken broth
3 cups water
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
2 cups broccoli and/or carrots, chopped (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large stockpot over medium heat, melt butter. Add garlic and onion, cooking until onion is translucent. Whisk in flour and rice seasoning packet and let simmer for a minute or two. Whisk in milk, simmering until mixture begins to thicken. Add remaining ingredients and simmer until rice is cooked through, about twenty minutes.

Another Month Gone

2011-09-30T20:27:00.000+10:00

At this point, monthly photos are all about distraction.

They're about playing with things we normally wouldn't play with.

And they're about making it clear that we're finished by sliding right out of the chair.

Another month is gone and little E is nine months old. For the first time since the baby was born I can say that this month dragged. E has been working nonstop due to two out of the five people in his department being off island, so while each day gone makes me a little sad, I'm not upset in the least to see September come to an end.

The baby has definitely kept me busy, although I'm not sure how much longer I can call him a baby. He is constantly on the move-crawling, pulling up, and practically running when holding my hands. He's also expressing his personality more and more each day-so far the traits that stand out most are silliness and stubbornness. He definitely knows what "no" means, as he stops, grins, and continues about his way when I say it. And then there are the times when he begins to fall asleep in the car and tries to psyche himself out to avoid it.

Charming, no? Doesn't it remind you of a bunch of football players amping themselves up for the big game? I joke that I don't know where this stubborn streak comes from, but it's no secret that E and I are currently getting a peak at what our strong wills look like from the outside. I'm a little frightened and a lot excited to see what the future holds for this kid!

A Case of the Sickies

2011-09-29T08:01:00.000+10:00

I am officially down with my first virus since having little E (and since long before that, really). I'm not sure what I have, but it involves a sore throat, headache, exhaustion, and, I just found out, inability to type (this sentence took a good two minutes). It seems as though the baby has caught a little bit of it, too, which has led me to do my best not to touch him or be in his face too much beyond nursing him. This has proven to be miserable for both me and him. The boy is definitely going through an "I want mommy" phase and it's killing me not to give him more hugs and kisses.

Off to rest (as much as one can with a nine month old) and kick this thing. Any advice from mamas who have been here, done this?

When Life Gives You Wheat Berries...

2011-09-27T20:30:00.003+10:00

...make some bread!

A friend and fellow Lamborghini blender owner gave me a bag of wheat berries, which is apparently the grain from which flour is made. Who knew?

They've been hanging out for a while so as a part of my pantry clean out I decided to start from the very beginning in the bread making process. I felt straight out of the colonial times doing this, except that the Vitamix makes it way too easy [I just realized this sounds a little sales-pitchy, but I promise you Vitamix doesn't even know I exist]. Can you imagine having to grind your own flour by hand? My blender came with a dry blade just for this purpose, and within a minute or two of flipping the switch, my wheat berries looked like this.

I felt like such a fake making this bread because of the whole "two minute flour" thing, and then the five minute bread. The next day when I was ready to make the bread I just dumped the flour right back in the blender along with honey, yeast, water, and oil. I pulsed it a few times, scraping the sides down a few times in between, and voila.

So glad my auto-focus chose my spatula!

Into the oven to rise, then bake, and in the meantime I made some cinnamon honey butter to go along with it.

This is my first time making 100% wheat bread (I usually use a combo of bread and wheat flour) and it definitely didn't rise like I'm used to, but it was hearty, tasty bread that I'll definitely make again, especially considering it's faster and easier than making a trip to the store!

[f]Au[x]tumn

2011-09-26T20:18:00.000+10:00

Happy fall to those of you who get one! I can't wait to throw on a sweater and some boots and head to a football game, but until then I will occasionally lock myself in the house, turn the thermostat to sixty and light some pumpkin candles. We had friends over Friday night and I decided to theme it up with the few fall decorations that I have and some good comfort food-chicken pesto pasta for dinner and apple pumpkin muffins and cider for dessert. Then we all sat around in a carb coma.

Don't be fooled, most dinners are eaten after little E goes to bed while watching DVR'd Food Network shows.

This is not staged. E pulled the tablecloth down on himself and demonstrated Guam's version of playing in a pile of leaves. The poor kid is so deprived.

Of course, Sunday I balanced out the Autumn with some snorkeling, and afterwards we came home to watch Soul Surfer.

It was a good movie, but I'm glad I watched after snorkeling, because now I'll never go in the ocean again. Ok, I'll go in the ocean, but I won't swim out to the edge of the reef like we did yesterday, since Wikipedia tells me that's where tiger sharks hang out. And Wikipedia's never wrong, you guys.

And Then It Just Got Awkward

2011-09-22T21:58:00.001+10:00

Actually, it didn't get awkward, I got awkward. I already showed off what a odd looking kid I was, so I might as well kick it up a notch and share photos from the years we do not speak of. I was the textbook definition of an awkward tween/teen. I like to think that I eventually overcame it but, well, if you know me you know that's not completely true. I think most teenagers (specifically girls) are a little insecure, but I liked nothing about myself. I think I grew six inches in seventh grade and I looked like a giant noodle-I'm guessing I was 5' 8" and 100 pounds soaking wet. I definitely am not now, which led to the next awkward phase-the growing out. Is there anything more embarrassing for a 13 year old girl? I think not. It didn't help that, much like now, I had no sense of style and had no desire to spend any time on my appearance. At that age you don't need to do much, but let's just say a friend at one point heckled me in the lunchroom, telling me to buy a hairbrush. Obviously she wasn't really a friend then, but she eventually was, so I've moved on from that. I guess I've only mostly moved on, since I still remember it. Teenagers are mean.

Stage One: The Noodle. I think my legs have the same circumference as my arms? This was the summer after sixth grade on our family trip to visit the Orlando theme parks. And I didn't mention my feet up there. I hate feet. Probably because when I was that 5' 8" 100 pound noodle I also wore size nine shoes. It didn't help that my family relentlessly made fun of them and that I put white platform sneakers on them. White. Platform. Sneakers. Those words should never go together. Especially in a size nine.

I'm not even sure what to say about this. It's very, very embarrassing. But I can laugh at myself. This haircut was previously a very cute bob, but I promptly began growing it out when the cute lifeguard at the neighborhood pool told me he saw me from behind and thought I was a boy. And wow, I should probably get some therapy. I never realized how much I got made fun of, but now it's all coming back to me.

Seventh grade. Pom squad. Do you all know what a pom squad is? It's dancing. Um. 100 pound noodles don't dance. One hundred and *cough* *cough* pound "not noodles" still don't dance, if you're wondering. I also apparently thought it was a great idea to get blue and black rubber bands for my braces to match my uniform. Bless my heart.

Fast forward to ninth grade and I feel like I kind of got the hang of the whole "being a girl" thing.

I'm in the middle if you can't tell. I was tan and I brushed my hair. A huge improvement, I think. But this isn't about improvements, it's about my awkwardness. And it soon returned. My sophomore year my family joined a very conservative church and I had to start over with the whole dressing myself thing. You can't tell in that last photo, but I had a tendency to...how do I say this...buy clothes with too little fabric. And then we went to this church that was about...a lot of fabric. And I didn't realize that there was a way to dress modestly while still looking cute. Which led to

this. I don't want to step on any toes, but...these clothes do not belong on 16 year olds, they belong on 40 (50? 60?) year olds. That's all.

So I'm thinking my teenage years encompassed enough awkwardness to fill two or three posts, but I don't want to stretch this out any longer than I have to. Because I have a great self-deprecating sense of humor, I'll leave you with these. You're welcome.

The Whining Wife [and a Bit of Organization]

2011-09-21T20:40:00.003+10:00

I don't whine, I'm just persistent, convincing, and...ok, I whine. I don't mean to, but it happens sometimes. My whine of the year has been for the Keurig. I'm the queen of "don't replace it if the one you have still works," and my husband has been giving me a taste of my own medicine. I have a perfectly good coffeemaker and I have no need for a Keurig. It's true, it is, but E doesn't drink coffee so I have to pull out my coffeemaker every morning (I don't like counter clutter so, yes, I put it away every day) to make one cup of coffee. That's all I drink-one cup to give me a little boost. It's like they designed the Keurig for me. Alas, no matter how ~~whiny~~ persistent I've been over the past months, the hubs could not be moved.

Until.

Sunday E ran out to the store and returned with a gift.

The husband said he didn't realize how handy it can be, but I think he just got tired of the whining. Isn't it pretty? I'm not one for naming inanimate objects, but this one might call for it. Feel free to propose ideas-it should probably be German. On top of all the other fantastic things about the Keurig, it can live ~~forever~~ for the next six months on the laundry room shelf, since I can just pop a K Cup in it and refill the water reservoir every few days without moving it.

As I was snapping this photo I was reminded of how a lot of people email me asking what they'll be able to fit in base housing here. I thought it might be helpful to share some photos of a few rooms and what they hold, starting with the Home of the Keurig

The Laundry Room

Ignore the bag o' dipes waiting to be washed. As I shared last year, the laundry room is off of the kitchen. With a baby in the house we usually have a load of laundry waiting to be washed or folded and since I got tired of hiding it when company comes over, I put up a curtain to do the hiding for me. A word to those not yet here: apparently most Guammies don't use curtains. There's not much shopping here to begin with, but none of the stores I hit had curtains! Finally this past week a friend tipped me off to some simple Martha Stewart panels at Home Depot. Woohoo! Enough about the curtain...

To the left of the doorway is the laundry and a row of cabinets. They provide quite a bit of storage-we have all of our laundry supplies on the left and our junk towels (for cleaning up messes) on the right. I used a couple of adhesive hooks to keep my aprons handy.

To the right is a utility sink and what used to be a big empty space. One of the first (and only) things we E did when we first moved in was hang these Rubbermaid shelves (also found at Home Depot). I think it ran us about $75 for everything? Apparently you can get shelving for free at Self Help on base. Thanks Laurie and Samantha! On the top shelf are some miscellaneous things with no better homes-cooler, cake taker, cloth bags, disposable party goods, etc. The bottom shelf holds my old, faithful coffeemaker; my new, fancy coffeemaker; and my microwave. Another note: Apra View homes do not have microwaves. Not a big deal, you can buy one here; just something to know. I can't remember exactly how much this micro cost, but it wasn't bad-maybe $50?

Besides that we obviously have hooks for mops and brooms, a dispenser for any disposable bags, our clothing and floor steamers, and our garbage can over here. We also have a bag for recyclables under the sink, so this space really holds a lot!

There you have it. I realize this won't be all that interesting for most people, but since I started blogging in hopes of paying forward the helpful information we received during our move, I'll be happy if it even helps one person! Sometime in the next week or so I'll show off our kitchen storage.

A Weekend of Firsts

2011-09-19T20:10:00.000+10:00

A 90+ hour work week for E was hard on me and even harder on him, so Saturday found us back at the beach. [Maybe I should have called this thing Babies, Beaches, and Baking, since that's pretty much my life right now?] After little E tried to swim away from me a couple of weeks ago, I secured a flotation device and we tried it out for the first time. The boy loved it...until he didn't anymore.

Google tells me that he's going through a developmental leap right now, so perhaps he had a blast until he realized he had no idea what was going on and got scared. It's kind of the opposite for my "first" on Saturday. I finally went snorkeling! No photos since E was taking care of the baby. Besides, a picture of me snorkeling? Yea, you all don't need to see me from that angle. Anyway, I was ~~hyperventilating~~ nervous at first but once I figured out how to breath it was awesome. It's just those first few times that you're under water and feel like you're drowning because your snorkel keeps clamping down tend to freak a person out.

Sunday came with a couple more firsts! I was pretty convinced that little E would be army crawling his way into kindergarten, but he took another step toward walking. Not an actual step, of course, but this almost nine month old finally pulled up!

A box of baking supplies + Chronicles of Narnia lent a hand.

Not that exciting? It was for me! And little E was pretty excited when I showed my redneck roots yesterday afternoon and set up his new swimming pool in the driveway.

I've said it before and I'll say it a thousand times more. This kid loves water. Looks like we'll be spending a lot of time in this $13 investment, and I'll be investing quite a bit more in a gym membership with indoor pool access when we get back to The [Marvelous] Land of Seasons!

I'm Boring, Have Some Pictures!

2011-09-16T20:43:00.001+10:00

I started linking up to Meet Virginia's Friday Five, but then I realized my answers were that I'm reading nothing, watching nothing, eating everything and liking this song.

Rather than subject you to a long, drawn out version of that, I thought I'd embarrass myself and post some old photos instead. I know the people who actually know me will be hard core making fun of me by tomorrow. You do what you have to do when you like to ~~run your mouth~~ type pointlessly because your husband is tired of listening to you talk.

My grandfather & me at King's Dominion. SO thankful the baby didn't get my nose.

This was a weekend spent with my dad, I believe. That sort of explains the outfit.

My brother ran me over with this gokart. The same year my father hit me with a firework. I'm lucky to be alive.

Why do parents do this to their children?

Ahahaha. It's a good thing I'm already the least favorite child, otherwise I would have just dropped rank.

Go ahead and laugh, but if you do you have to share some awful photos, too. Maybe next I'll share a few pictures from my very, very awkward tween/teen years. You might think it can't get any worse, but trust me, it can.

The Difference a Year Makes

2011-09-14T20:50:00.000+10:00

If you're friends with me on Facebook you've seen this already, but I think it's fun! When we were out on our drive Sunday, I remembered that just about a year ago we stopped at a lookout point to take a picture. I thought it would be neat to do another one.

October 1, 2010

September 11, 2011

Given the choice between "Pam with a belly" and "Pam with a [super adorable, wonderful, funny, loving] baby," I'd have to go with the latter. =)

I'm a Food Hoarder

2011-09-13T20:55:00.000+10:00

When I'm stressed, I cook, so when E came one the other day to pumpkin bread baking, brownies in the mixer, chili on the stove, and peanut butter fudge on the agenda, he probably knew I had a bumpy day. My anxiety + 9/11 footage = me sitting on the floor in the dark in little E's nursery playing Words with Friends while he sleeps. And mommy on four hours of sleep + a teething, clingy baby equals...lots of baked goods.

My day in the kitchen started when I looked in the pantry and realized the overabundance of food we have on hand. This must be something Guam does to you because back in San Diego I made it my mission to have a sparse, uncluttered pantry. I usually like to have only what's needed for the week's menu, plus some baking staples. We are encouraged to have a typhoon kit here, but I don't think we'd survive on four different kinds of flour and six varieties of baking chocolate.

After I put the boy down for his nap, I sat on the floor in the kitchen and made a list of everything in my pantry. Yes, I am crazy, thanks for asking. Then I went through and started coming up with things I could make to get rid of this stuff because, hello, we're probably packing out in eight months. There's no time to waste, right? So that's my goal for the next couple of months, to pare down all the stuff in my pantry. I wasn't going to give a before picture until I had an after, but here it is:

Fairly organized, but overflowing. With all the stuff I just made in my stress haze, it's looking better already!

Sunday Drive

2011-09-12T20:32:00.000+10:00

E ended up working most of the weekend (stop having babies, ladies of Guam!) so when he got home Sunday afternoon and the baby was just waking up from a long nap we decided we needed to get out and do something! I suggested the beach, which the husband vetoed. He said we should go to a movie, and I reminded him we have an eight month old. We decided that a drive around the south end of the island would do. We've done it before, but I never think to take pictures. I grabbed the camera on the way out of the door and hopped out of the car every so often to snap a few photos.

2,977

2011-09-11T22:46:00.002+10:00

Faces. Souls. Loved ones. Lives that were cut short.

Remembering the events that took place ten years ago today. Praying for the families that still feel the void of the ones they loved and lost on September 11, 2001.

One Step Away From Mom Jeans

2011-09-08T22:39:00.001+10:00

Have you all seen this? I know you have. I've never sat through an episode of SNL and I'm very familiar with it.

I don't think I'm that bad. If I ever get there please lock me up and throw away the key. Or at least put a paper bag over my head so I can't be identified in photos.

I've fallen into the typical "momiform" trap. I've found something that is comfortable and I stick with it almost every day. If you see me out and about, I'll more than likely be wearing this:

My Momiform by socalledparadise featuring reef shoes

Seriously, I have those denim capris in two different washes, the Reefs in black and silver, and probably a dozen micro rib tanks (and I paid way more for all of it, too, thanks to living on Guam). Outside of these I think I have six shirts plus some pants and skirts for church. I was never very fashionable anyway, and the fact that the island-wide dress code is tshirts and flipflops does not help. In my dreams, though, I sometimes dress like this:

Source: lookbook.nu via Allison on Pinterest

Tim Gunn probably wouldn't think it's much better, but it's a step in the right direction for me. Perhaps when we move back to the states and I have easier access to shopping I can upgrade my ever deteriorating wardrobe?

This poor move sure has a lot of expectations placed on it.

Why Did the Carabao Cross the Road?

2011-09-07T21:00:00.004+10:00

I guess because the dog on her back told her to do it?

We finally snagged our own photos of Lucy the carabao and her canine companions. We always seem to see them when we have somewhere to be, but we were actually running early for once so we made a u-turn and pulled over to snap a few photos. Their owner, John, was kind enough to let us get up close and personal. Actually, I had to stay in the car with the baby, but E took advantage of an "Only on Guam" photo op.

It's funny, I'm looking at these photos and this whole situation doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary. I think that means we've officially been assimilated.

Random Blog Stuff [With a Question and a Bribe]

2011-09-06T19:59:00.000+10:00

I've officially had my first weird [and very weird] google searches lead people to my blog. One had to do with living in your car on Guam (huh?), and the other? Naked time. Seriously? Who searched this and how did it bring you to my blog? Please let me know so I can figure out how to block your ip address.
I decided to keep the blog title as "Living in So-Called Paradise." Except I added the - because it was driving me nuts. Cheesy explanation as to why is forthcoming (for keeping the title, not for the -).
I wanted the url to match the title, and because livinginsocalledparadise.blogspot.com is entirely too long and socalledparadise.blogspot.com is taken, I decided to join the big leagues and pay for a url. If you visit my blog directly you can use www.socalledparadise.com if you like. =) navywifeinguam.blogspot.com will still direct here. And there's no - in the url. Oh well. And is that hyphen or a dash? A hypen, I think. Anyway...
For some reason, with the addition of the new url it seems to be taking a good 12 hours for posts to show up in Google reader. Anybody have any idea why this happens? I'll make you cookies if you help me figure it out!
I keep playing with the way the blog looks because I'm indecisive and uncreative, hence the place holder header.

And now I've written aked-ne ime-te on my blog. Here's hoping it won't bring anymore crazies this way.

The Last Weekend of Summer [Until Next Weekend]

2011-09-05T20:47:00.001+10:00

Hope you all have enjoyed your Labor Day weekend! Back in the states it's a sign of summer's end. Here it's just another long weekend since summer never ends. We spent most of the weekend hanging out at the house and running a few errands, but today we packed up the prebaby equivalent of a week's worth of luggage to head down to Gab Gab beach on Big Navy. I've mentioned before that little E is a water baby, and he lived up to that title once again today. Kid looked like he downed a whole bag of kool aid sugar, kicking all over the place in the water. Were my friends and I the only ones who ate kool aid sugar in elementary school? Literally, a cup of sugar + a packet of kool aid in a zip lock bag and we ate it with a spoon. Seriously, Mom, why did you let this happen? I don't blame you for my mouth full of fillings, but I think I could argue a pretty convincing case that you should pay my dental bills...

Anyway, we actually got a beautiful, rain free day and, besides my purple shoulders (my skin pretty much matches my shirt), I had a great time hanging out with a friend while our husbands snorkeled. I need to suck it up, buy a pack mule, and make the trek down to the ocean more often. Little E just can't get enough.

Hanging out in the shade!

Boy was definitely trying to make a break for it and go for a swim!

September Sweets

2011-09-02T23:12:00.000+10:00

So first I have to say that it's funny to read/watch everybody's vlogs and see that almost everyone made a comment about their voice or appearance before hand. Nice to know I'm not the only one who felt awkward. ;)

Now, I know I said last week that I was going to wait until after Labor Day for Autumn things, but I didn't make it. Soon after I said that I pulled my decorations out to see what I have (not much) and what I want (a lot) since we came from a small apartment to a slightly larger duplex. As I was cleaning up the house a couple of days ago, I wanted the container out of the way so the few things I had in there came out! Oh well, as my husband pointed out, Guam doesn't really have seasons so much as it has varying amounts of rain, so why not?

I also couldn't wait for autumn baking and I thought I'd mark the first of September with a pumpkin dessert!

Source: mysweetandsaucy.com via Pam on Pinterest

That reminds me, because I'm a genius I finally figured out how to remove my last name from my pinterest account and can now embed. Exciting stuff, huh? Now if I could just figure out how to center the images...

Pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon frosting and a salted caramel drizzle. Sounds amazing, right?! Unfortunately that pin is from a bakery blog and they did not share the recipe. It inspired me to go on a hunt, though, and I found a pumpkin cupcake recipe by none other than the Barefoot Contessa.

Source: housebeautiful.com via Pam on Pinterest

I whipped them up and popped them in the oven while I got to work on another pinterest find, the salted caramel cream cheese frosting.

Source: bloomingonbainbridge.blogspot.com via Pam on Pinterest

Lately I've been kind of annoyed by my baking experiments. I am not a professional baker and I don't play one on Cupcake Wars, so I told my husband that if this didn't turn out I was going to give up trying new recipes and stick to the old faithfuls for a while.

Ina Garten, my husband thanks you. These were DELICIOUS! They are the perfect start to the not-quite-Autumn season. I had a little mishap with the frosting-I did something wrong with the caramel, I guess, because it wouldn't blend completely with the cream cheese-but that didn't affect the flavor. The problem now is that I made two dozen cupcakes (one recipe of frosting was more than enough for them) and my husband forgot to take them into work. His colleagues now hate him, and I'm looking at gaining ten pounds...

The "I Don't Have an Accent" Vlog

2011-09-01T21:31:00.006+10:00

Alternately titled: The Most Awkward Blog Post Ever. And if you're in google reader you're going to have to make the jump if you want to check it out.

Will You Hit Me If I Talk About Christmas?

2011-08-31T21:56:00.001+10:00

It'll be quick and painless, I promise. For the past several years I've wanted to replace our now seven year old stockings with pretty personalized ones. I kept telling myself that I'd wait until at least the first baby came along, since I know myself well enough to know that I'd want new matching ones then, too. It ended up that I waited a little longer than I had expected, but this year is finally the year and when I saw the stockings I wanted pop up last week I didn't waste any time!

Since my husband encourages my bad behavior, I went for the personalized tree skirt as well. =)

I love Christmas (even more so now thanks to my Christmas Eve baby!)-my brother and I bounce random comments back and forth about Christmas music, decorations, and how many days to go until our first Christmas season as parents (he has an adorable baby girl!) even though it's still summer. It must be in our genes! It's going to take a lot of will power to tuck these away for a couple more months once they arrive in the next few days!

The Making of a Boonie Car

2011-08-30T20:12:00.000+10:00

Before we moved to Guam, our friend who had previously been stationed here informed us that we would have one of the nicest cars on the island. I was a bit confused-our car, although nice and well maintained, was bought used and was at that point six or seven years old. Then we arrived on Guam and I was no longer confused. Whether you call them boonie cars or Guam bombs, most cars on Guam have seen their better days. Of course, this isn't a huge surprise since cars are inspected annually at a washing machine repair drive-thru and thus don't go through much of an inspection at all, but that's another story for another day.

Guam has an inexplicable effect on cars, which is part of the reason we're a one family car until we get back to the states. Why buy a new car only to have it age five years in 18 months? Almost as soon as we got here, our window tint started bubbling; I can only assume it's from the humidity. Within nine months we had a flat, thanks to the awesome roads, and since we couldn't find our tires on the island we now have different tires on our back wheels than the ones on the front. So humidity and potholes-guess it's not an inexplicable effect after all. To add insult to injury, a couple of weeks ago while E was back in the states, I had a little accident...with the garbage can. I dragged the can down to the curb on trash pick-up day but failed to move it over out of the way of the driveway. Go ahead and make fun of me. E made sure to tell plenty of people that I sideswiped our trash can, and he attributed it to the fact that women don't look behind them when they back up. Email me and I'll help you track him down so you can deck him for that comment.

Today, justice was served. It was monsooning over here on the island so E was attempting to be chivalrous and drop us off at the door to the hospital when we went to pick up our mail. As he backed the car up closer to the door, he managed to back right into the post office loading dock. Yes, you read right. After ragging on me for scratching our car with the garbage can, E put a hole in our bumper by backing into a CEMENT WALL.

Unfortunately for me, justice was served alongside a huge headache and a little bit more "boonie" for our car. And since the husband made sure to spread the word about my goof, I thought it was only fair that I shared his little mishap here. =)

The $5 Challenge

2011-08-29T22:10:00.000+10:00

I've addressed this before, but I'm by no means a perfectly healthy eater. I try to make good choices on a regular basis and make healthy substitutions where I can (ground turkey breast instead of beef, whole grains instead of white), but I can also do damage to a bag of rolos. =) I do believe that healthy eating on a budget is entirely possible, which is why when my friend Amy shared the $5 challenge on Facebook, I knew I had to participate. The goal is to make a healthy, well-balanced meal at a cost of no more than $5 per person. The website says:

"WHY: Because slow food shouldn't have to cost more than fast food. If you know how to cook, then teach others. If you want to learn, this is your chance. Together, we're sending a message that too many people live in communities where it's harder to buy fruit than Froot Loops. Everybody should be able to eat fresh, healthy food every day."

Now, I know with the military commissary I have an advantage over some civilians; on the flip side, the commissaries don't do loss items, which is when the store takes a hit on certain items in order to get you through the door. Nonetheless, I'm going to try to do this for the least amount possible-I'm thinking vegetarian!

So, who's with me? I know I'm a dork, but does anybody else think stuff like this is really fun? If there's enough interest perhaps I could host my first link up!

Pinnable Me: Birthday Party Inspiration!

2011-08-26T23:23:00.000+10:00

Linking up with Paw Prints & Pastries. =)

We're four months out from Little E's birthday and I actually feel like I'm behind the curve on party planning compared to my momma friends! Please don't tell me that first birthdays are for the parents, because I already know! I love entertaining and am looking forward to another excuse to throw a party. It won't be the blowout it would be if my huge family were near by, but that can wait for another year. My goal is to come up with something that will not only be fun for the kids, but also for the adults.

Since the babe's birthday is in December (and Christmas Eve, of all days-poor kid!) I figure this will be one of, if not the only opportunity to give him a beach themed water party!

Ok, not an actual party on the beach. Have you done the beach with kids? Too much stress, plus too many bugs at the beach when you bring food. The kid loves water, though, so it fits, and his "favorite book" (read: he likes the shiny scales) is The Rainbow Fish, so I might incorporate that, too. Anyway, here are a few ways I've been inspired by Pinterest:

1. These handmade invites are adorable! I have to figure out how many people we'll have over before I decide if I'm willing to take on this challenge.

2. I love the bright blue, green, and orange of these tiny snacks. I also love the idea of little cups of candy for guests to snack on!

3. It's probably hard to see, but the wreath made out of drink umbrellas would be such a fun touch!

4. I've definitely decided on beach pails as favors-the possibilities are endless for beach, pool, water-themed favors for all ages.

5. This dessert table set up is great! I'm not a huge cake person (let me at the chocolate frosting!), so having your pick of desserts sounds like a winning idea to me.

6. It doesn't get much cuter than a fruit pizza made to look like a beach ball. How do people think of this stuff?!

7. As I said, I want this party to be fun for everybody! I plan on buying Little E a water table for his birthday and I'll pick up a baby pool or two as well. I think a water balloon fight and maybe a giant slip 'n' slide would be right up our "grown up" friends' alley!

8. Photo booths are present at pretty much every party out there these days, and with good reason! I have some ideas for theme-appropriate props that I think will be a great keepsake for Little E's first birthday.

Got anything to add? I'm not a creative person so I'm more than happy to feed off the creativity of anybody who's willing. =) Hop on over to Paw Prints and Pastries to see some more great Pinterest finds!

Wait, did that just happen?

2011-08-25T21:06:00.000+10:00

Not the east coast earthquake. Anyone on Facebook or Twitter knows that happened. What I'm talking about is more rare than an east coast earthquake. So rare, in fact, that it caused me to change my post title from Many the Miles[tones], a ~~clever~~ play on a Sarah Bareilles song that nobody would have gotten anyway. I had planned on talking about little E crawling [on his belly], waving [sometimes], eating table food [mostly bread-like mother, like son], and teething[if they'd just break through!]. This is bigger, though. Two nights ago, on the eve of his eight month birthday, little E slept through the night! This is a big deal around here. Of course, I didn't sleep at. all., since I was worrying that something was wrong with him, but it was still a big deal. Also of course, he went back to his 2 a.m. wake up last night. I don't mind, since I enjoy seeing and snuggling him, but it was nice to see a light at the end of the tunnel, to know that he is capable of a full night's sleep and that it will eventually maybe even happen regularly.

8 months

[Cloudy days + no photog skills=shadows]

2/3 of a year

Almost 35 weeks

243 days

My chubby, adorable, funny, lovable little squirmy worm is growing so quickly, and these amazing days are flying by!

[Almost] Wordless Wednesday: Gone Fishin' [OOG]

2011-08-24T20:08:00.000+10:00

Typical Sunday morning scene [...on Guam]:

Annnnd exactly four minutes later:

Two Obsessions, One Bandwagon

2011-08-23T20:00:00.000+10:00

I love a good bandwagon almost as much as I love organization and school/office supplies. You probably already knew about the organization thing, but the school supply obsession-that one's deep rooted. Even back when my bedroom looked like some sort of catastrophic natural disaster hit it, I had a thing for school supplies. As a kid, I was one of those dorks who I looked forward to the end of summer every year, both for the arrival of Autumn and the awesome new pencils, pretty binders, and fresh notebooks I was bound to acquire. I might have pouted a couple of weeks ago when E convinced me that I didn't need a twenty pack of multicolored mechanical pencils. Pssshh.

I was also a tiny bit depressed when I saw the new Erin Condren Life Planners popping up on other blogs. If you read any blogs at all you know what I'm talking about. Are you kidding me? How beautiful are these?

Alas, I am cheap, and I let that be known in the comment section on another blog's planner post. There was no way I could allow myself to spend $50 on a planner. I wish I could, but no. My day got a little brighter though when an ~~angel~~ fellow blogger popped over to let me know that One Kings Lane had a deal going that allowed you to purchase $50 worth of Erin Condren products for $25. On top of that, there was a $10 coupon that would cover shipping!

And so, my organizational, school-supply loving, cheap self was satisfied. I ordered my planner and am now counting the days until it arrives.

But what will I use to keep track of the days? Now that's a conundrum.

An Insane Menu Plan Monday + A Recipe

2011-08-22T21:47:00.002+10:00

Hope everybody had a fantastic weekend! Mine included watching E flail around burning calories. At least, that's what it looked like he was doing.

My gift to my husband for his birthday was the Insanity Fitness Program. You probably recognize it from the late night infomercials you watch when your insomnia hits. I'm pretty sure this is one of the most insulting gifts ever, right up there with buying your wife a food scale for Christmas. We're funny birds, though, and I requested a food scale just as my husband requested this workout. He's been following the diet during the day this week-a lot of eggs, salad, and grilled chicken-and now that I've worked through last week's meal plan I'll be preparing dinners according to the diet as well-for the most part. The meals aren't bad, but they are boring, and I can't serve my guests a piece of plain grilled chicken and steamed vegetables. And this week is definitely chicken-heavy since E isn't big on fish. So here is my boring 300 calorie-per-meal plan for the week:

Monday-Chicken Pot Pie, Salad, Fruit (NOT insane-we had company)

Tuesday-Turkey Chili, Salad

Wednesday-Whole Wheat English Muffin Pizzas with Grilled Chicken and Broccoli

Thursday-Citrus Baked Chicken with Carrots and Brown Rice

Friday-~~Salmon~~ Chicken with Whole Wheat Pasta, Steamed Veggies, and Fruit

Saturday-Dinner Omelet

Sunday-Lean Steak, Baked Potatoes, Broccoli

So there it is, very boring. But if you happen to see my husband out and about, parading around with no shirt and a six pack, be sure to praise my fantastically boring dinners.

***

Here's that recipe I wrote about- ~~Turkey Meatloaf Muffins~~ Muffin Tin Turkey Burgers. I came up with a new name! Muffin Tin Turkey Burgers sounds a little more appealing, right? And I think it's a little more fitting, too, because these really are more like turkey burgers that you bake in a muffin tin-there's even a little cheese mixed in. This is a combination of two recipes (Rachael's and All Recipes) plus my own additions. For someone who prefers meat mixed in things, rather than being the main focus of the meal, it says something that I will willingly pull the leftovers out the next day to have them for lunch.

Muffin Tin Turkey Burgers (Serves 4-6)

1 package (1.25 pounds) ground turkey breast

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs

1/4 chopped onion

1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

Pinch black pepper

3 oz sharp cheddar cheese, cubed

3/4 cup barbeque sauce

Preheat oven to 450* and spray a twelve cup cupcake tin or line with metal cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, mix first eight ingredients by hand, then add in cheese.

Divide evenly among twelve cups and top each with a tablespoon of barbeque sauce.

Bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes or until meat is no longer pink.

Not gourmet, but good, fast, sort of healthy comfort food, especially served with these amazing sweet potato fries!

Pinnable Me: Autumn Envy

2011-08-19T22:18:00.002+10:00

Linking up over at Paw Prints & Pastry Bags!

Five years. It's been five years since I got to experience Autumn, and I miss it like crazy! My favorite season is nonexistent in San Diego and on Guam, but I refuse to let it be nonexistent in our house. With school gearing up, so has the Autumn talk on Facebook amongst my friends, and it has me itching to pull out my Autumn decor. It will wait until the Tuesday after Labor Day, along with these little touches I plan to incorporate. But come September 6, the thermostat will be turned to sixty, I'll don my jeans and sweatshirt, and with some hot chocolate in hand I'll get to work on some of these adorable ideas that I think can even be accomplished here on Guam! [Click the photos to see the originating website.]

Clear Vase+Branches+Scrapbook Paper=Thankful Tree


Another simple decoration using scrapbook paper I already have!


Painted pumpkins seem like they'd withstand the Guam humidity better than carved ones!


Such pretty entryway decor!

And you all know some sweets will be prepared!


Cake pops are fun, but these chocolate covered marshmallows are easier and just as cute!


Festive pretzels would make a fun favor!


Who knew two bunt cakes=a pumpkin?!

Bite-sized pumpkin pies. That means I can eat more, right?

And I'll leave you with this. It's literally what I dream of on a regular basis. Next year, next year...

Our Next Stop!

2011-08-18T20:00:00.000+10:00

Anybody in the military knows how much you sometimes have to go around and around...and around with detailers [the person in charge of deciding where you'll be living next]. So many things had to go wrong in order for us to end on Guam, which, to me, proves that we were meant to be here. That, of course, doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to moving back to the states next year.

E has been going back and forth with the detailer for a couple of months. Seems odd, having only been here a year, but the beauty of E's specialty is that they're given the opportunity to negotiate for orders a year in advance.

And negotiate, he did. From what E tells me, the detailer was a really nice guy, although some days the information he passed on to me didn't make it seem that way. Some days we had our first choice of duty station, exactly when we should have it; others we were asked to go to a hospital a few hours away from our first choice or stay here as long as eight months past our projected move date. Finally, last week when E was in Boston, he sat down face to face and heard the good news:

A crooked photo of my all-time favorite-Smithsonian Museum of American History

Next June, we'll be moving to the DC area!

To some, E's next hospital isn't the most desirable place to work, but we couldn't be happier, and I never thought I'd say that. When I married E I was excited about the prospect of living as many places as possible. While I still love that idea and I don't hope that we stay in the DC/MD/NoVA area forever (sorry, Mom!), I am excited to be going back for a few years. It's funny how your perspective can change when you have children. I'm not saying it happens to everybody, but I have a kid, my brother has a kid, and my husband's brother and sister have kids, and we're all going to be within driving distance of one another. This hasn't happened in years! I want my kid(s) to know our family. It's how I was raised-with a large extended family around for every occasion-and I love it.

On top of that, although I grew up on the east coast, I didn't take advantage of all it has to offer! E and I are so excited for new experiences, new places, and lots of weekend trips.

Until next year, I will do my best to soak up this island life and the unbelievable travel opportunities we have here, since I'm sure I'll miss it once we're gone. I'm sure I'll also need the next ten months to think up a new blog title...