Road trip without Mommy

Yesterday, Layne, Alex, and Dan took a trip to Haleiwa on the North Shore. He was a good boy on the way up, napping in his car seat, and a good boy at lunch, but decided to scream his head off the whole way back. Kind of glad I missed out on that trip! They stopped at Chinaman's Hat for a photo shoot and they ordered shave ice (which is as big as Daniel's sizable noggin). Too cute!




Today was not Daniel's best day. He spent the day at the Child Development Center (day care on base). Because Zach's deployed, we get 10 free hours of child care each month. So Daniel spent the day there and I think it just threw him off his routine. He only took two naps, for a total of an hour. Hopefully he'll get back on track tomorrow. I'm home on leave for two days so we can spend some time with my aunt and uncle and cousins who are visiting from Iowa. Polynesian Cultural Center tomorrow, then Diamond Head and Hanauma Bay on Thursday. So much for getting the little buddy back on track....

Rainy Day

Yesterday was cold and dark and dreary. Well, for Hawaii, anyway, which means that it was probably about 65 degrees. But it did rain off and on all day and not just a little sprinkle here and there. So we had a quiet day of staying inside, but we did manage to run a few errands in between the rain bursts.

It seemed pretty chilly to me, so I dressed Daniel like it was December in Buffalo! I just love this hand-knit sweater paired with his white pants that look like male gymnast pants to me. Too cute!




As you can see, he loves to eat my iPhone case. I think he just likes the chewy goodness of the rubber. I'm thinking about getting him some doggie chew toys if I can't find rubbery baby ones. (And I'm only half kidding!)

Today looks like it'll be much more pleasant, which is good because Alex, Layne's boyfriend, is here for spring break. And my Uncle John, Aunt Kay, and cousins Kayley and Jenna are here for a week as well. They're down in Waikiki because our house isn't big enough for all those guests at once! We have some plans with them during the week, so I'm taking Wednesday and Thursday off. Hope it's warm in your neck of the woods....

Pics from my phone

Here are a few random pictures from my iPhone. I always forget my camera when we go to the doctor's so it's a good thing my phone has a camera for the all-important scale picture.

Last night, Daniel just didn't want to stay asleep, so I brought him up to my bed around 0415. He slept for another couple of hours and then I decided to make the bed with him in it. I used to love that as a kid--my mom or dad making the bed around me and then trying to pound out the lump (me) to make it smooth. He's a little too young to play along, but he still looks pretty cute with just his little noggin sticking out.

Funny expressions

This morning, Dan had his six-month appointment. Perfect little buddy, according to the doctor, which is just what I expected. He's 27 inches long and weighs 17 pounds 15 ounces, so I think he's becoming a little more normal in the weight department. He did manage to spray the scale with pee, so that was a nice little surprise for the nurse. Ooooops!

Layne took some great pictures today--enjoy! I know at least one person was looking forward to a pants-on-the-head shot......







OMG, I'm ROFL, GTG:

Scrunched-up pal

I was messing around on the computer with Dan in my lap and somehow he ended up pretty squished. His poor little feet were turning purple! But he looked really cute so we took some pictures before we stretched him out again to actual size (you know what I'm talking about, Jean!).

In case you haven't heard....

We're moving to North Carolina! Not our first choice (long story), but we'll make the most of it. The big positive is that we will be within a road trip of many friends and family members. Zach will be an instructor at HMT-302, the squadron at Marine Corps Air Station New River that teaches people how to fly the CH-53E helicopter. Which means that Zach will have to learn how to fly the CH-53E, since now he flies the 53D. Confused yet? Me, too! For now, I'm going to stay home with the baby. I don't know if you've heard, but the economy isn't really friendly to job-seekers right now, so maybe that's a sign that I need to take some time off. (:

Zach should be home in the end of July, so we'll have about a month in Hawaii to sort things out before we head east at the beginning of September. After six years here for me (and seven for Zach), we're looking forward to new opportunities! If you kept saying that you were going to come to Hawaii, now's the time to start planning your trip to North Carolina. We'll only be there for three years, so the clock is ticking!

15 minutes of sunshine

Yesterday and today have been uncharacteristically dreary and overcast. So when the sun decided to make an appearance late this morning, Layne, Daniel, and I hustled out to the pool. Well, hustled is probably the wrong word. We hurried as fast as we could when you consider that I had to find a swimsuit for me, a swimming diaper and trunks for Dan, get us both dressed, blow up his crazy pool floating contraption, and then get out the door. Amazingly, there was still daylight when we finally hit the pool. Both the big pool and the kiddie pool were freezing, so we floated around in the hot tub area. It wasn't very hot, so don't think that I was trying to boil the little man. It was pretty much lukewarm, like the pool is supposed to be when the weather is warm in the summer.

Daniel seemed to enjoy the water, except when I accidentally shoved his whole face in. Even then, he recovered quickly and resumed splashing and kicking. I'm very ready for the weather to really warm up (I know, I know, it is warm here, especially compared to places like Buffalo) so we can take Dan to the beach and let him play in the sand and surf.







We tried to give him a faux-hawk: