All the way Back

After six months in Afghanistan and an odyssey home that included locations like Tarin Kowt, Kandahar, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Ireland, Canada, Louisville and Chicago I made it home just in time to enjoy Christmas with all the family in Orlando, Florida.

Minus the L's who arrived later in the week.

Captain was happy to see me.

I enjoyed spending time with the boy king P and meeting our new addition L. Despite being sick during the first part of our time L was perfect. Her demeanor must have come from BML's side.

L's boat ride in the Bear Suit.

Yay Yay worked really hard for that P smile.

We spent time at Gilchrist, took in a Magic game and played some golf, but our most fun time was spent in the kitchen preparing meals and readying the house for our many guests. P showed me his love for flying machines and even invented a new game called copter, which both exhilarates and frightens him, and I know it worries LDL, but he always wanted "more."

I got to see the judge at work in Jacksonville, hearing some exciting testimony on patent infringement and rounded out the Florida sweep with a trip to Pensacola where I saw some of our family there.

Now I'm all the way back in San Diego, enjoying a house filled with new furniture and new roommates. We've enjoyed the MLK weekend preparing dinner for friends and a cousin new to the area. Now it is back to the grind where all the problems I left behind still remain. I guess there truly never is any rest for the weary!

don't eat the pizza! and other adventures...

I'm blogging! At 10 am!  How is this possible?  A baby swing and an iphone.  BML and I are new to the iphone world, we didn't know what we were missing!  LTD gave me an itunes gift card for my birthday and one of the first things I spent it one was toddler apps since yay yay! already introduced them to sweet p during her visit.  He is now perched on the couch in "Fish School" learning his letters.  And sweet l girl is quietly napping in her swing.  AND!  Thanks to FTD my house smells delicious with a concoction of cinnamon and vanilla simmering on the stove. (check out this link) I have even brushed my teeth this morning, and last night I read a book!  Only 10 pages, but a book!  Oh quiet time...it's good to see you again.

Yesterday was a completely different story.  We headed to Whole Foods to grab something to eat as our refrigerator was completely bare.  Completely.  And Whole Foods has a parking garage under the store so its easier to maneuver both kiddos in and out.  Except that P refused to ride in the cart, so I let him walk provided he stay by my side the whole time.  It was an experiment, and he did pretty well!  We played I spy with all of the items on my list.  "Where are the bananas, P?"  and he ran to the bananas, I picked them up and he put them in the cart.  We had a little trouble with the eggs, but we managed to make out with them all intact.  We stopped at the pizza spot for some quick lunch - I picked P up to check out the slices and he promptly let our a huge sneeze and splattered the glass with snot.  sick.  the snot, and P.  oops. 

Like I mentioned last time, I spend a good amount of time at night on pintrest.com while nursing L.  Sometimes I spent too much time in the food section and pin all things delicious and bad for you.  But as you all know if you have been following, P loves to help bake, so it's a good activity.  But not good for dropping the baby lbs, especially since I am not doing a lot of exercising lately.  I did about 20 minutes of yoga a few days ago and my body is still yelling at me.  Anyway, a couple of days ago I found this http://playathomemom3.blogspot.com/ with all kinds of activities and I thought, we could do that stuff, no problem.  It overwhelms me though with all the set up and I never have everything you need and I'm not great and knowing what I can substitute so we did the old vinegar & baking soda experiment.  Success!  We played with the eyedropper making volcano's for 45 minutes while L was sleeping.  I managed a couple pictures...

This last picture is us making FTD some art since she has requested some via twitter.  P is making his way toward L sleeping in her swing so I'm signing off...here he comes!  What a lovely 15 minutes...

not waving but drowning

ok.  so things aren't as dreary as my heading would suggest.

i managed to keep my head about water today -

but there are several things i did NOT manage to do.

read on, 16 readers.

Sunday was departure day for Granddad,

and yesterday LDL / Yay Yay! headed back to the

Sunshine State.

Neither of them are feeling bright sunshiney.

i was told on multiple occasions i wasn't allowed to cry.

pretty sure they were talking to themselves.

so here we are -

day one.  parenting two.  alone.

lovely little L thought she'd spice things up a bit

by deciding not to sleep last night.

at all.

sweet P played along and woke up at 6am.

seriously?

he went back to sleep - something's going right.

in short -

we went to the dr. for a sick visit for little L.

her belly button hasn't quite healed, but not to worry,

all is well. 

except it was during naptime,

and P woke up the second we walked back in the door.

L also refused to sleep so I ran from one kid to the other

from about 2p - 330p when P decided he wanted to go outside.

it's nice.  no problem

L is in her swing attempting to sleep.

P and I go out.

we get up to the lawn and I hear L wake up.

go get her. put her in the sling.

p does not like this, but seems to realize

 he has the advantage in a footrace.

our sidewalk has been recently repaved.

as in, the last 30 minutes.

P has no shoes on.

but before we get to that....i know, cliffhanger.

P falls down in the field, and comes up with a wad of

DOG POOP on his behind.

Seriously?  Pick up the poop!  i do enough pooper scooping.

we have to go inside.  he refuses, i don't care.

it's nice out here.

except he decides to take off running

down the freshly tarred pavement.

my little barefoot tar baby.

p gets a time out for not listening,

his butt covered in dog poop,

his feet completely black with tar.

and his little pitter patters can now been seen by all in the neighborhood.

its now 4pm.

we all watch Ellen.

thank goodness for a 6pm bedtime.

they sure are good looking kids though!

family of four

she's here!

eight days past her "due date"

which were apparently needed to put on a few extra pounds.

b, p, and i welcomed little l on

friday, september ninth, two thousand eleven

at 2:28am, weighing 8 lbs 7.5 oz

and measuring 21 inches.

only half a pound and one inch smaller

than her big brother.

personally, i think she looks exactly like FTD.

i know, FTD and I have some similiar features,

but lovely L definitely favors Aunt T.

big brother P wasn't quite sure what to think of things,

but he really loved playing with the gadgets

in the hospital and all of the treats

that come with welcoming

a sweet little girl.

it's really hard to believe that

lovely L is just four days old - we're adjusting

to being a family of four. 

all of us.

P is loving the visitors he is getting,

Grandma S, Great Grandma E, Aunt K,

Granddad and Bluegee

(whose name has now been changed to Yay Yay!

because that is how P refers to her).

He loves tickling L's toes and running away and

peering into her basket while she is sleeping.

Our sweet P is so tenderhearted that he runs to be held when

little L cries, he is concerned for her.

so precious.

i'll leave you with more pictures,

forgive us for our being incommunicado,

we're getting our newborn legs.

being a mom again reminds me again and again,

how blessed I have been by my own mom,

who is spending her time taking care of me and P so I can take care of L.

To quote a movie coming out soon,

I Don't Know How She Does It.

But I am so thankful she does.

Yay Yay!

signing off with some pictures.

thanks to you all for your prayers for a healthy delivery

for me and L.

we continue to be blessed.

L's verse is Psalm 99:9

(for September 9th)

"Exalt the Lod our God and worship at His holy mountain,

for the Lord our God is holy."

i will updated later about

L's first visit to the pediatrician,

and P's first day of "pre-school."

on the same day.

it was brutal.

in a good way.



excitement on the east coast!

first,

i would like to acknowledge the title

of FTD's last post.

she's is like your own personal jukebox

and i am willing to bet a billion bucks she was listening

to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

while writing.

genius.

second,

there has been much excitement here on the east coast!

i am now the sole sibling operating in the EST zone.

all in the same week we experienced:

an earthquake, which our California people scoffed at

because there was such pandemonium here

for what was considered a small quake.

but seriously!? who would have thought?

an earthquake?

that weekend, came Irene.

which our Floridians scoffed at - seeing at it was just a

Category 1 storm. 

As CMD commented, we run errands in that stuff.

But much of our area was without power for an entire week.

Luckily for us we are on the hospital grid and didn't lose power at all.

what's that? hospital?

more to come involving that....

and most recently,

we have gotten 2 calls from the police department.

the first informing us of an escaped inmate around the neighborhood

and to please keep your doors locked.

and the second to inform us that the escapee had been caught

12 hours later.

and lastly!?

the moment you have all been waiting for???

not here yet.

all of that excitement,

and no new baby.

she obviously wants her own day.

so here we sit -

football weekend.  us open. 

baby watching.

BML is putting a child seat on his bike so he and sweet p

can go riding together.

we picked up RBD III's season tickets for the

Fighting War Goats

for the 3rd season in a row and we'll head to that game

later this afternoon.

and that's all folks.

next up, hopefully a post from CMD about his cross-country trip

to lala land.

and then maybe later we'll have some MLL news for you.

sweet baby to big boy...the transition...

i'm just realizing now that i never got around

to one of my intended project posts,

which was cloth diapering.

that's right.

cloth.

diapers.

we did it.

but too little too late,

we have already moved on here in our household.

yep, potty training here we come.

everyone knows we are expecting MLL to make her debut

in less than two weeks,

right?

are we crazy?

probably.

have i read all about regression when it comes to reacting to a new sibling?

you bet.

were we tired of wrestling an angry alligator

five times a day for a new diaper?

yup.

so we took the plunge and for the last 3 days we have all

been sequestered in the house for some potty training boot camp.

bml and i are going out of our minds.

So......

this afternoon we took a little break - and played.

outside. finally.

we all needed it.





p discovers rain makes mud

do you know how hard it is to find plain underwear?

hey mom and dad, want some?



getting ready to throw this at dad

getting hosed down

(sorry p that i am posting pictures of you in your "big boy pants, i hope you will understand)

sweet victory

and lastly,

i can't help but add this picture of

big boy p painstakingly removing all of the wrappers from caramels

to melt into some delicious brownie treats

for Uncle B aka RBD III.

such a little helper.

please send snacks

i'm pretty sure i said 3 months ago,

that i would update our 16 readers with some of my projects.

i forgot.

got busy.

with projects.

most recently,

sending RBD III some love in the shape of baked goods.

as usual,

i forgot to take photos.

but luckily for you curious readers my recipes all come from the web

so we can all pretend that what i made,

looks exactly as pictured.

week 1:  DIY Oreos

from http://www.annies-eats.net/

(side-note, i am not sure how to credit others photos and ideas etc while blogging, please don't get mad!)

these actually involved a pastry bag!

i know, can you believe it?

they are also OREO cookies...meaning, they need to be paired up.

so when i left the house for 20 minutes and came back to discover

23 cookies instead of the 24 i painstakingly prepared,

i was irritated.

at bml.

sneak.

:)

i rolled them into perfect little circles,

used the pastry bag to squeeze out the perfect amount of filling,

pressed them perfectly together -

and mistake #2...

left them on the table in a ziploc bag while i went to change the laundry.

so i came up to discover perfect p

smashing & slamming my cookies on the floor

desperately trying to open the bag.

i was irritated.

at perfect p.

precious.

hopefully they still tasted the same,

which was delicious,

to our navy friends.

 since it may be a while before one of the other siblings posts

(we are still waiting on bml to join the fun),

i'll leave you with this.

aunt t (ftd) ordered p man breakfast.

he loves her.

p.s.  sprout # 2 aka MLL is due to make her arrival in 19 days!

(and counting...please don't be late)

hooray for the 4th of july -

it's hard to know where to begin.

as usual, there really is never a moment

of peace,

among the brothers & sisters.

i blogged about our heavy hearts last time,

so i'll work on keeping it light.

before we said "see you later RBDIII"

some of us celebrated the 4th the way you should,

at a Washington Nationals baseball game.

we met up to say hello to an old friend,

switched our allegiances dating back to a 1991

opening day game at Camden Yards

to the Nats.

we enjoyed the ball game, beer, hot dogs,

and ice cream.  we all know from this post

that p loves ice cream.

as in, i never get to eat any.

and p and uncle RBDIII got some good quality time.

p started out really enjoying his

shoulder ride -

and ended up acting more like a sack of potatoes.

it was fun.  a good 4th of July,

my favorite holiday, except for the whole deployment thing,

that sucks (totally an appropriate word for the occasion).

some other photos from the holiday weekend...

i've also been busy with some projects,

which i will post about that since this one is getting

a little long.

besides, maybe it will give some other contributers

time to contribute.

things i am excited about?

july 15; winnie-the-pooh in theaters.

a beach trip, o-town family celebration,

a little "sprinkle" for sprout # 2 (who has been named!!  initials MLL),

and then waiting...to be a family of four.









sweet baby p...

my precious p is growing into

a little boy.

and i think i am at that stage in pregnancy where i

am beginning to mourn baby p.

i LOVE toddler p, 

walking, talking, laughing, cuddling,

tantruming.  :)

this really is such a fun stage,

a challenging one, but fun.

soon though, my little guy won't be the baby of the house.

how are we going to handle that?

its definitely not a "how can i love another child"

feeling.

much more of a my little baby boy,

will soon be off to college.

but at the moment?

he is refusing his nap again,

which i am fairly certain college boys would

NEVER do.

so at least i have that.

these were the days...

on a totally unrelated subject:

my current project is to use everything in my fridge

before i go to the grocery store again.

so tonight?

making homemade pizza dough

and topping it with blue cheese, lettuce, grape tomatoes.

grilled.  hope its delicious!

plus we'll have grilled zucchini boats with our extra

squash, more tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese.

and tomorrow?

the grocery store.

can't think of a title

it's really hard to think of a clever title.

especially considering we haven't really been up to much.

which has been SO nice.

P man has been sleeping a bit better as of late,

so everyone is less stressed in the morning.

which means a happier family in the evening.

P even helps with dinner.

and still gets really excited

at the sight of hummus.

we celebrated mothers day, easily now my favorite holiday,

by staying in our pajamas for much of the morning.

little man slept in so we could too!

P (whom B calls the little prince when wearing these pjs)

LOVES being outside.

LOVES.

when the sliding door opens, this guy is headed straight for it.

hence, the attractive baby gate in the background.

my boys were pretty pooped after an afternoon

of exploring the garden center, playing in their fountains,

and planting our new plants.

i wish i had a picture of P after the fountain incident...

he was soaked through.  and loved every second of it.

then they got hot...

and sat down to watch some basketball.

later, at P's dinner time, he was told by his dad

to please stop throwing his food.

and this was the response we got.

excuse me?

i didn't quite hear you.

nope! still can't hear you!!

in other news. 

since pretty much all i have to write about is the family,

p man now only takes one nap a day.

but in the morning he still gets tired.

so he crawls up into my lap and we read.

i love every minute of it (sometimes up to 30!)

and yes, that is brown bear we still love.

see this post:  Brown Bear, Brown Bear

so, life is pretty good in our household.

the weather has been beautiful,

which alwaysputs me in a good mood. 

 little man is sleeping in -

BML has a whole month off of school,

its so nice to have him around some more!

until next time...

oh - i should at least mention

we did manage to take a vacation - just me and bml

while my parents took p.  we went off to the keys

and enjoyed watching the sunset at Lorelei's

and sleeping in until 8am!

but we missed little man, so we went back soon.

and i have no pictures to prove our vacation.

but it was awesome.

while we were gone, p enjoyed

swimming, golfing, walking captain and

entertaining the neighborhood.

for some reason, the pics won't load. 

maybe CMD has a couple he will share later.

ps.  baby girl aka sprout #2 is kicking

around like crazy these days...just when we were getting our sleep back.

it's sweet.  mean it.











two weeks

for those of you who tune in for pictures of sweet p...

forgive me for the lack of update. 

we have been busy over here,

 but i am not sure what we have to show for it. 

clean clothes, food, a couple new friends, new favorite things...

like watermelon.

we have put together a couple more pieces of furniture...

we watched the masters...

stopped by a local coffee shop after our doctor appointment...

learned that sprout #2 is a GIRL!

and so we danced a little bit..

stay tuned for more excitement later! 

i mean, i'm not holding out on any stories from you -

i might think of them later.