Stealth

Dear person/people who drive around our neighborhood in two black, domestic-made SUVs, one closely tailing the other,

We realize that you are Important. You must be Important with not one SUV, but TWO SUVs providing you a ride to and from where ever it is that you are going.

I would like to note that I assume you're a politician, due to the fact you have government plates and need two vehicles to "provide security and create jobs" read:" waste gas/create more emissions/whatevs". And I would also like to note that just because you may have some part in the law-making process, it does not mean you can break the laws. Laws like each vehicle stopping at stop signs. I realize our neighborhood has lots of stop signs, and it is annoying for each car to stop, but, as you recall when making the laws, IT'S FOR A REASON. Even the people from Maryland who cut through the neighborhood during rush hour slow down from 40 mph and at least tap their brakes for stop signs (speed limit is 25).

Oh, and FYI, I hope you're not trying to operate any covert business, as having TWO SUVs totally blows your cover.

We will be watching to see if you continue to ride around with your TWO SUVs, the second car ignoring stop signs, and judge how you fared in midterm elections.

Sincerely,

me

MilSpouse Friday Fill-in

Q. A different twist on last week’s question. This week, the first question is: what’s the nicest thing a MILSPOUSE has ever done for you? (brought to you from navy_smurfette)

I'm the membership chair/slave for the area spouses' club, and I think the nicest thing a MILSPOUSE has done for me is to write a little note along with their membership information saying how much they appreciate what I do. It really makes me happy.

Q. How often do you drive faster than the speed limit?I really try not to drive over the speed limit. It's kind of hard to do here in DC, when everyone seems to be flying by, but I try to keep it at the speed limit.

Q. Did you have a nickname in school? If so, what was it?

I didn't really have one, but occasionally people would call me "(my last name) cookie" because my mom always made chocolate chip cookies for events.

Q. If your life was a book, what would the title be and how would it end?

Today, I think the book would be titled "despite her best efforts..." Otherwise it should be "Counting my blessing and recounting my tales". It would end with a Hawaiian sunset.

Q. Look back (in your planner if you have one) to September 14th… what did you do that day?

Sept 14 was the first MOPS meeting I attended. I really value these meetings - it helps me feel like an adult again and I love talking to other moms. This day, the speaker talked about being marshmallows and toothpicks. It was a really good lesson!


See the whole list at Wife of A Sailor.

Mmmm Dinner

So, technically I'm posting this a day later, but I fully intended to actually post it on Nov. 3, so that's what we're going with!

We had chicken for dinner. I had spent a delightful afternoon at Borders with a friend, and came home a bit later than I had originally anticipated. CO wanted chicken for dinner and suggested that I marinate it. That's cool, I thought, until I realized I had no marinade in the house. I quick looked up a recipe on my go-to website, allrecipes.com, and found this recipe. I had most of the ingredients on hand (I substituted white vinegar for red wine vinegar and dried parsley for fresh). I cut down the recipe from 32 servings to 4 (allrecipes makes it easy with their nifty calculator), and that was perfect for one package of chicken tenders that I had. I would suggest using chicken breasts though! I marinated the chicken tenders for about 30 minutes, then baked them for about 30 minutes at 350.

Nervously, I served it to CO for dinner last night. He LOVED it. He said I could make it anytime again. The flavors were great, and we will definitely be making it sometime soon.

Chicken Marinade - from allrecipes.com, posted by user jillypooh

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil 3/4 cup soy sauce 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce 1/2 cup red wine vinegar 1/3 cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons dry mustard 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon black pepper 1 1/2 teaspoons finely minced fresh parsley

Directions:

1.	In a medium bowl, mix together oil, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, wine vinegar, and lemon juice. Stir in mustard powder, salt, pepper, and parsley. Use to marinate chicken before cooking as desired. The longer you marinate, the more flavor it will have.

November 2

Here it is, the second day of November, and I have nothing exciting to write. I thought I'd try to participate in NaBloPoMo... but alas, little inspires me this moment.

I guess one thing I've been thinking about lately is how busy I am or am not. It seems that in the past several months or so, one thing a month outside the house is about my maximum. And even then, I'm behind on housework, behind on Spouses' Club stuff (I do NOT plan on being on the board again next year!), and slacking on life. I know a good part of that is time management. How do I motivate myself to do what I need to do?

Good news - Bad news

Good news: My sweet daughter likes to feed me Cheerios in the morning. It's so sweet of her to share, and she puts them in my mouth. It's really cute.

Bad news: When was the last time we bought Cheerios? 1992? The things are so stale I barely have to chew.

I'm about to become a farmer...

It's kind of frustrating when...

• The pain reliever you give your child to ease the discomfort of vaccines is recalled.
• The formula you give your child to help her gain weight is recalled.
• The teething tablets you give your child to help with teething pain (without using pain reliever) is recalled.
  

Seriously, people, it's been a frustrating year!

Today's Lesson: Spillage

Today I spilled some rice on the kitchen floor when making lunch. And then I forgot to clean it up. All afternoon I've been walking around in my bare feet and feeling single pieces of rice on my feet. I feel like a modern day, updated version of The Princess & the Pea.

Today's lesson: Clean things up right away.

Even with...

Even with...

• pumpkin spice lattes
• pumpkins and gourds decorating homes around the area
• my birthday come and gone
• apple picking over
• being tired of my summer clothes, ready for fall
  
• leaves changing color and falling to the ground
• cravings (not that kind of cravings) for comfort food
  
• the calendar saying October is almost over
  
• the occasional scent of a fire burning in a fireplace in the neighborhood
  

... it's hard to believe it's fall because my thermostat says 77.

pictures from a busy day out

crawling in front of the Library of Congress

happy to be with daddy

Supreme Court

Supreme Court spiral staircase

More pretty stairs in the Supreme Court

beautiful fall day

the supreme court - our first time visiting

picture blog

I've decided to do a 365 project.

Find it here. Keep me accountable.

Today's Lesson: Mom Jeans

Today I changed Lu'au's bedding. Changing crib bedding stinks. It's so tight on the mattress that it definitely prevents suffocating your child, but also renders the parents unable to change it without a serious struggle. I probably don't change it nearly enough, but instead, I wait for leaky diapers, snotty noses, or vomit episodes.

Today was a leaky diaper. Everything was wet. Time for a bedding change. So, like most stay at home moms I know, I brought the baby into the room with me and shut the door. I gave Lu'au a few toys to play with and got to business.

I decided to take the mattress out of the crib, change the bedding, then put it back in the crib. I was wrestling the new, clean, bedding onto the mattress when Lu'au came up behind me. She likes to come close to me and pull up to standing while holding onto me. This time was different. Apparently my cute, low-rise, American Eagle jeans had slouched down a bit and I was wearing them plumber-style. Lu'au came right over and poked her little finger in the exposed crack.

It wasn't until then I realized the point of Mom jeans. Perhaps I might be investing in some in the near future.

Letters from on base last week

Dear woman in the car next to me,

I see you're smoking. At the GAS STATION. I know you're IN your car, but please, really, do you have to smoke AT THE GAS STATION? It's kind of windy, and the doors are open. If there was an attendant in the little booth, I would report you, but as there is not, I'm not quite sure what to do. All that I ask is that you please do not blow us all up.

Thanks,

me




Dear self,

When you enter the commissary and cannot find any shopping carts (aka buggies, whatever they call them in your neck of the woods), turn around and go home. If you persist and hunt them down outside, and still cannot find any carts, go home and wait until tomorrow. You see, the commissary has A LOT of carts. If none are available, that means they're ALL IN USE. All of the carts in use means that there are A LOT of people shopping at the commissary today (even though it's NOT a payday). It'll just be better if you come back later.

Not really paying that much attention,

Me

FYI

My kid loves fried rice.

Good news - Bad news

The good news: We won't be visited by vampires anytime soon.

The bad news: The garlic is somehow trapped in the garbage disposal and the whole house smells like garlic.

Sweet girl

Little Explorer

It is finished.

Thank heaven.

I somehow was convinced to be the Assistant Treasurer for our local CG spouses' club. Sounds easy enough, right? There is no attendance requirement, so if Lu'au is having a bad day, I don't HAVE to be at meetings. They said I was in charge of taking the membership forms and entering them into a spreadsheet to be made into a directory. This could be done, they said, at my own pace with no real deadlines. Cool. Sounds like the perfect responsibility list for me! I'm happy to help, so I said yes. (Surely there are some retired Admirals' wives' dressed in white gloves and pearls, giggling in a corner because they have pulled off another con on an unsuspecting junior officer's wife.)

That whole little "entering membership forms" doesn't really mean *only* that. It means being places to ADVERTISE membership. Like the Coast Guard Day picnic. No problem. I can plan volunteers to be there, coordinate with the Picnic Chair to get us a table... as soon as I can find out who that person is. I can do that.

Oh yeah, the membership kick-off event is a Welcome Tea, usually held at the Commandant's house. And guess who plans that? The ASSISTANT treasurer! Uh... ok. So much for "at my own pace" and "with no real deadlines".

I like planning parties... but this one seemed a little "higher stakes" than most parties I plan. There were about 80 people there - from the Commandant himself (who, ironically enough, I didn't ever speak with) to other Admirals wives & husbands, to other lowly spouses like me.

I tried to plan the best I could and I think things went pretty well overall. I was in charge of announcing new members and I think I missed a few. And then I forgot to ask if there was anyone I missed. Ooops. So much for welcoming someone into the group.

Being the people-pleaser I am, I am really nervous that people weren't happy with the event. That I did something wrong. That I forgot something important. AND IT'S ALREADY DONE. And yet I'm worrying. Worrying that my major (yet still unknown to me) faux-pas will somehow affect my husband's career. Worrying that I shouldn't have agreed to help in the first place. Worrying that I was way in over my head...

So much for day-after regrets. Hopefully everyone had fun. I'll make it up to the new members and send them a letter or email or some sort of concession.

le sigh.

Time management

Anyone who knows me fairly well will realize that I'm not the best at time management. I leave things to the last minute, then rush through them. I never know how long it will realistically take me to get somewhere (especially with a baby!) no matter what Google Maps says. I realize I need to get better at it, and I'm starting to improve.

I discovered today that I have a LONG way to go to compete with some others in the time management field. DC-ers have won the game.

Today, while stopped at a red light, a man got out of his car. That's kind of a cultural no-no. I watched him. As he stepped out of the car, he had something in his hand. Windex. And a paper towel. He proceeded to clean his back window and side windows of his car. He then returned to his seat. All before the light changed to green.

A few August pictures

Way to be on top of things...

... fire department.

The neighborhood school's fire alarm went off for most of the afternoon, and only at 9pm did the fire department come to do anything about it. Uh, maybe I don't want my kid going there...

And how is it that if you accidentally pull one of the fire alarm levers that the fire department shows up almost instantly, and then the fire alarm AT A SCHOOL goes off for at least SEVEN HOURS and no one shows up?

Maybe not now...

CO and I were talking tonight about the possibility of having a second child. I had gone to the hospital today to see our friends and their new (as of 3:30am this morning new) baby girl. I said that it wouldn't be so bad to have another child, as ours is so good.

CO responded, "Have you seen what she's doing?"

I looked down to see Lu'au chewing on the bottom shelf of the coffee table. (Teething stinks.)

FYI

The other day my niece asked me if I am allergic to anything. I said no (it's probably not appropriate to talk about birth control pills with a 4 year old). I asked her if she's allergic to anything. She said yes - "bears and dinosaurs." Come to think of it, those are probably hereditary.

Maybe I should add them to my allergy list... (along with work and housecleaning).

It's not for lack of trying

I really wish Lu'au would take a bottle. It would make my life significantly easier (I can only guess that it would). We have tried numerous bottles with her, and we think she might start to take one - Tommee Tippee. Including that one, we have purchased and tried over ELEVEN different kinds of bottles. Oh goodness, let's hope this does not foreshadow pickiness to come...

Where are we now?

From the beginning of May to mid-July we have (or will have) spent time in the following places:

• Philadelphia
• South Florida
• Michigan
• Baltimore
• Charlotte
• Orlando

I'm going to need a(nother) vacation...

Bad Mommy

Hubby had a wedding to go to/be in over Memorial Day and we decided that it'd be too much for baby Lu'au and I to go along. He went to play in the Mediterranean and we went to see my family in Michigan.

We had tons of fun with my family. We went to the beach (I love Lake Michigan) I went fabric shopping. It was very relaxing and good. Until... my mom got pink eye. Yup, Lu'au's Grandma got pink eye. You know, the one who had been holding her and playing with her all the time? Great. So she washed her hands a ton and didn't hold Lu'au for 2 whole days. Then... on the day we left, Lu'au got pink eye in her right eye with a vengeance. All the while, I got a sore throat. I thought it was due to drier air or something, and focused on baby girl's poor eye.

I'm not sure what exactly happened, but Lu'au's pink eye spread to the other eye. And she got whatever congestion junk I have. And the other day she had a fever. Fabulous. So she has to have eye drops every 4 hours. And off-brand "Tylenol" (Tylenol is bad due to the recall). Her nose runs so I have to suction bulb it clean. All things she HATES. She has trouble sleeping and eating. Aside from her eye drop/Tylenol regimen, there's not much I can do.

Oh, and did I mention she's only gained about 1/2 a pound since her 4 month appointment and she's now a few weeks over 5 months old?

I have a headache, an achy ear (do I have an ear infection?), and am tired from my own sickness and staying up with her...

I tried to call Tricare to set an appointment to get her ears checked (and mine too) for ear infection, but their computers are down.

Mommyhood = fail.

Waiting and Talking

Sometimes I wish baby girl (shall I call her Lu'au?) would talk. I try to interpret her cries - "Mama, I am ti-red!", "I'm bored", "Can a girl get food around here?"... I try to fit my words into each one of her outbursts.

My neighbors joke that with their kids they could discern the cries to mean #4, #7, and #2... (Surely this cry means #3) unfortunately, they never received the manual to interpret what #4, #7, and #2 meant.

At times I wish Lu'au could tell me what she wanted, what's going on in her world. If she really thinks the cereal we've started to feed her tastes terrible. If she just wants to be held sometimes. If she's not frustrated with her tummy time, instead she feels the burn of the ab workout she's getting.

I'm so excited to know what she thinks... but then again, can you imagine what a baby would say if they could talk upon birth? That's where the fun really starts... "I hate this outfit", "Holy cow! Those are MY knees?", "I have a huge poop coming and this diaper doesn't stand a chance to contain it all"... the possibilities are endless when you add those to the basic needs of sleep, food, etc.

God must have had a plan in not letting babies speak until they are about one year old. Can you imagine all of the whining that could take place? All of the confusion... And what language would it have been?

I kind of wish that I would have a little more waiting involved when I speak. Sometimes I say really dumb, hurtful things. I say a lot of things just to not have silence. I've never been particularly eloquent - words don't come naturally for me. Perhaps I should take a cue from Lu'au and wait a while before I speak... but maybe not a whole year...

Picture time!

What's up with the weather?

So we've been having colder than normal weather here. And it has me all confused. Around Easter, we had some 90*+ days. That was unseasonably warm and left me scrambling for clothes in which to dress baby girl. I find that it's hard for me NOT to dress her in layer upon layer of clothes because that's exactly what I had to do for so long when she was born. Enter Easter weekend: It's hot Hot HOT. I'm still trying to put a onesie underneath everything. I teach myself to reject this desire.

Enter cold weather IN MAY. I no longer have those layers for baby girl. Most of the stuff she's in right now (3-6 months, 6 months, or 6-9 months) is summery. I have two longsleeved onesies that she wears every other day now, in a nice little rotation. I had to retrain myself how to layer her clothes... how to make sure she's warm at night. Everything. I look forward to taking her to Florida where I'll be able to dress her in warm clothes again!

Gosh, my life is boring. Sorry.

Military Spouse Bloghop (aka I'm totally Ellen's copycat)

The fabulous Ellen had this on her blog and I thought it'd be fun to try too... I've been trying to blog more, and hope that this will help motivate me to post more often.

Riding the Roller Coaster is hosting a Military Spouse Bloghop. What a fun way to find other military spouse blogs!

My name is JulieAnn. Julie'uli'uli is a play on my name (from my hula sister back in Hawai'i) but also an 'uli'uli is a hula implement. I started dancing hula when we were stationed in Hawai'i and have somehow managed to find a halau (hula school) each place we've been stationed since then.

My dear husband (Captain Obvious or CO) is active duty in the Coast Guard. He has been a ship captain, but these days is found at a desk staring at spreadsheets - you can guess which one he likes better. We've been married for almost 4 years, and he's been in the CG much longer than that.

Baby girl (baby 'uli'uli? I need to find a name for her!) was born Christmas Eve, and is an absolute delight! You'll find her and I strolling around our town or playing on our carpet most days. She's into rolling over and playing with her rattle recently.

I've been trying to write more lately - I think it helps me do something for myself and serves as a good way to document life as it happens (moving so often has a way of making me forget things!).

Some of my favorite things are (in no particular order):

• ice cream
• traveling
• quilting and learning to sew
• learning to cook and sharing recipes
• life with a newborn
• photography
  
• hula and Hawai'i
  
• the Coast Guard and the military spouse life
• parentheses and ellipses (obviously...)
  

Some of my favorite parts :)

shaka!

Tonight

Baby girl and her daddy walked to the store. I guess she laughed all of the way. Probably because she lost a sock and no one noticed until they got home and Mama asked where her sock was...

Banana Chocolate Bread Pudding

I made this the other day and it was delicious! I will definitely be making this again!

Chocolate Banana Bread Pudding -from allrecipes

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup white sugar (I used 2/3 cup and it was very sweet. Next time I'll try 1/2 cup.)
  
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups cubed French bread
• 2 bananas, sliced
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (next time I'll mix in 3/4 and then sprinkle 1/4 over the top)
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. I used my casserole dish that is smaller than a 9 x 13.
   
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in bread, bananas, and chocolate chips, and let rest 5 (to 10) minutes for bread to soak. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Line a roasting pan with a damp kitchen towel. Place loaf pan on towel inside roasting pan, and place roasting pan on oven rack. Fill roasting pan with boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the loaf pan. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. It took me 1-1/2 hours.

I served it warm with ice cream and it was delicious!!

The other day on a walk

~ I saw my stroller twin. She had the exact same stroller (though hers is green and mine is all black) and the conversion bar and the same car seat in the same colors. I wanted to say something, but I didn't. She didn't even notice we were stroller twins.

~ Old men in Porsches don't let women with strollers cross the street before they zoom off... to the next stop sign, 50 feet away...

Sign that you don't want to see on your walk...

Uh... thanks, National Arboretum.

A new kind of score-keeping

Today:
nails Mama cut : 9
fingers Mama cut : 0


last Friday:
nails Mama cut: 1
fingers Mama cut: 1


That whole "cut the baby's nails while they're sleeping" thing is great... until you figure out you have swaddled their hands IN the wrap so that the baby doesn't wake herself. Then you cut her finger and it bleeds all over a new (never been worn) onesie from Janie and Jack that you still probably paid too much for, even though you chose it off the clearance rack.

I think nail-cutting will remain a job for Daddy!

Ten Good Things (in no particular order)

A friend recently wrote about 10 good things that she's thankful for, and it inspired me to do the same:

1. Baby girl smiles - they're the best!

2. A husband who says, "Are you going to get a pedicure? That's what girls do when it's spring."

3. Blossoming trees, particularly cherry trees, even though they make me sneeze. But they are like cotton candy for the eyes!

4. The idea of planting a garden

5. Planning a trip to Florida to introduce BG to her aunts & uncle

6. Getting the itch to craft again

7. Dreaming of visiting Hilo soon

8. Happiness over inexpensive cute new t-shirts from gap

9. Excitement of a friend's husband returning from several months in Afghanistan and him finally getting to meet his ADORABLE son

10. Starting to get the house in order again after being sick and traveling

{bonus} Getting 8 consecutive hours of sleep a night!

And another month has gone by...

... and I find myself with little to talk about. Only CO and I seem to be excited about the amount of poopy diapers. Then again, baby girl rolled over last night from her back to her stomach, and that was pretty exciting.

Spring has sprung and the blossoms are in full swing. Very pretty to look at, but apparently I'm allergic to something. I'm holed up in the house, wondering how much longer it's going to last.

Hmm... I need to find some blogging inspiration again. Baby girl will provide tons of fodder once she starts talking, but as of right now, most of the conversation is one-sided, with me providing running commentary of our days. Any suggestions?

My little penguin

Jell-o

What in the world did they put in the jello that they gave me in the hospital when baby girl was born? Seriously, four batches (consumed by me only) and 5 weeks later, I'm still craving jello. And the water's boiling for the fifth batch. Thank heaven I at least add pears and marshmallows. s

Entering the Twilight Zone...

There's a magical hour that I never knew existed. And it's going to be my magical hour for the next several years. I once thought that restaurants were closed before 5. I know now I was mistaken. Early bird specials aren't just for seniors - they're for families with small children.

No joke, we went to dinner at 4:30 tonight, and the place was packed with the under-5, or perhaps the under-10 crowd and their families. And there were some grandparents taking out the grandkids, so it was perfect for both generations...

We were in and out before the young trendy people even started getting ready for their nights out. It's a total win-win(-win) situation. Families get to go out for dinner (yay for going out), kids can be put to bed at their normal bedtimes, upscale patrons aren't disturbed by little people, restaurants get business for more hours (though possibly with more mess, which could mean more tip!). Everyone gets something good out of the early family dinner time.

I had not realized this enchanting hour existed... Oh baby, life with a child is not the same. Little by little, I'm learning exactly how much my world has changed!

My little bear :)

I'm at the delightful part of post-partum motherhood

... where my hair is falling out in chunks. And my hair is fine and thin to begin with... g-r-e-a-t. At least I live within walking distance of two wig shops, as I'm pretty sure if I continue at this rate, I'll be bald by next week.

Not as bad as I thought it would be...

Today CO went back to work. I was seriously dreading this day, as my mom went back home on Saturday and last week there was a delightful ratio of 3 adults : 1 newborn. Today marks the first day of a 1 : 1 ratio. That 1 adult being me. And so far, it hasn't been bad. I've not been as productive as I would have dreamt, but it hasn't been as bad as my nightmares. I made Jello this morning, and ate breakfast.

The only problem I'm having is that baby girl likes to be held and is refusing to sleep in her cradle now...

And that whole "sleep while the baby sleeps" is totally cool at night, but really, am I expected to be able to nap at 1pm?