Both Girls Are Asleep!

It's 4:30 in the afternoon (even though it feels like late evening because it's already getting dark, thankyouverymuch, northern hemisphere) and both girls area totally asleep.

Lauren has ballet on Friday mornings at 9 am, which means we have to leave here by 8:40 so we can get over there and get her out of her rain boots and coat and into ballet shoes, and to leave here by 8:40, I have to wake up at 7:30, get Lauren up, fed, and both of us showered.

I wish I had the who cares attitude to just throw my hair in a headband and wear a hoodie to go to ballet, with only a freshly scrubbed face, but I don't. I need to be showered and make-upped. And I don't think it's fair to not get Lauren ready because I'm feeling lazy. So we get up early.

Unfortunately, this kind of makes her a cranky beast for most of Friday. I had her in her bed watching a movie for a "rest" at 1:15, but at 1:30, Natalie's home therapist and services coordinator got here for an appointment, so she was up and downstairs to see what was going on. And to not leave me alone. And was really really making things difficult. But that's ok. She's in bed now. She just went upstairs and laid down and will be an angel child when she wakes up.

Natalie was playing on the ground and just rolled onto her belly, pulled her knees in and her butt up in the air and went to sleep. I remember sleeping like that. I wonder why that position is so comfortable only until about 5 years old?

We went to Michael's yesterday to get some stuff for Lauren so she could decorate her lego castle. I couldn't help but get stuff for myself, too. I love all that Martha Stewart craft stuff. I picked up a cute bird and owl stamp set and a glue stamp pad and silver glitter. And now I want to go back and get a bunch of colors of stamp pads and more glitter. And more stamps. Not that I have anything planned, I just want to be prepared, you know, for that day when I need to host a last minute stamping and crafting party. Or when someone comes to my door demanding to know where their birthday card is, and I just be like, oh, wait, hold on, and whip something together in a matter of minutes. (note: not likely to happen. Ever. But at least I'm prepared.)

I'm getting excited for my Cookie Exchange party. I think I decided I'm going to make Chocolate Chip Filled Melting Moments which is a recipe I've made before out of "The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook" that Jayna got me for my birthday. They are delicious. I know they will take some work, and I'll have to 4x the recipe, but that's ok, they are worth it, and I want something special for the exchange. Right now I have 4 people who have said they are going to come, but I'm hoping I can get a few more people, too. I'm really excited for the holidays this year. Especially since last year was so crazy. But first, I get to focus on Natalie's first birthday. Yay! We're going to have to get a good party together for the little girl. She's amazing and she deserves it.

Trucking Along

The girls and I went to Sequim on Tuesday and spent the night at Ema's house. It was a good trip, I always enjoy going and spending time with Ema.

We had our first home visit for Natalie's therapy this week. I am happy that we are getting more things going for her. The home therapist is going to meet us at Natalie's physical therapy appointment next Wednesday. Then she will be able to help us translate what we're doing in the office to what we're doing at home. Natalie has been doing really well, though. So close to crawling. She really wants to move and is finding all sorts of ways to get around that don't involve crawling. She's working on more teeth now, too, numbers 8 & 9 are coming in. We have appointments for Cardiology and Urology coming up and we're trying to get something scheduled at Audiology. Hopefully we'll get through and see everyone and then be done with most of the specialties and the ones she needs to see regularly will only be once every 6 months or year.

Lauren did better at ballet this week, she got in line when she was supposed to. She really likes it and we went ahead and signed her up for next month, too.

I'm trying to organize a holiday cookie exchange. I emailed our FRG leader and asked her to send out a rough invitation to everyone in the troop. I hope I can find people who are interested so I can get one going. If I can't find enough people through the troop, I'll put up a flyer on our mailbox and invite people from my street, too.

I'm still working on the crafts I'm doing for the girls. I saw a cute craft in Parents magazine that I think I'm going to set up for Lauren to do. I can't find it online, but it was just cutting out Christmas trees from green felt and letting her decorate them with stick on gems, then using a hole punch at the top and hanging them with ribbon as a garland or as ornaments. I think she'd have fun with that, plus it would be pretty easy to do. And not too messy of a craft.

Ben is dropping the crab pots again today. He's really gotten into going and doing that. He needs to hurry up and get a second paddle for the canoe, though.

Brrr!

Lauren had her first ballet class yesterday morning. She really liked it. Her class is for ages 3-6, but it's a Friday morning so it's mostly younger kids that aren't in school. She's still the smallest in her class. It's so cute. They're working on first and second position and a plie along with a couple other things. She seemed to like it. And this class is more structured than her creative movement dance class, which is good. She needs to learn how to follow directions and get in line and stuff like that.

Natalie went to her new eye doctor here. He is going to do surgery on her eyes to straighten them out. I'm waiting for them to call me with the date, but they said it'd be a Wednesday in December, most likely. She's also been referred to the new Physical Therapist where she'll also get speech therapy. I'm waiting for them to call me, too.

Ben has been flying and teaching at work. Last night he was on duty and worked from 7 pm until 9 this morning. They didn't tell him he'd be working overnight until 3 yesterday, though, so it was a long night for him. He's been asleep most of the day.

I've been working on a couple crafts for the girls. I also picked up a great cooking magazine and have been making recipes out of it. I really like a white bean and turkey chili that I've made twice. It has been cold and rainy and really PNW up here. We're counting down to Thanksgiving and Natalie's first birthday. And Lauren has already been working on an ever growing Christmas list.

Happy Birthday, Ben!

Happy Birthday to Ben!

Ben and Jon caught nine crab this weekend and had quite a feast on Sunday. We all went to the pumpkin patch on Saturday and got three pumpkins to carve on Halloween. Jon brought a fresh salmon fillet to the house and cooked it on a cedar plank for Saturday's dinner. I did have a bite. Lauren tried it and liked it. She said it was yummy and ate quite a bit of it.

Natalie had her big developmental clinic on Friday and they didn't really say anything new. They're going to do some tests on her bladder and kidneys just because we haven't done studies on them before. Eventually they want to do a study (probably by ultrasound) of her heart, too. They just want to make sure they check everything so if she has any problems we catch them soon. We're getting a new referral for her physical therapy so she can go to a pediatric physical therapist where she'll get PT, OT and Speech Therapy. It should be more comprehensive, and she'll have therapists who deal with kids all the time. This Thursday I'm taking her up to Seattle Children's Hospital again so she can have some tests done with the hematologists to see if they have any input or if we can get a better idea about what is going on with the clot in her brain. Then next week she goes to see the ophthalmologist, which will be the first appointment she's had with them since we got here. I'm anticipating surgery on her eyes, and hope they can do it before Ben deploys in the spring.

Lauren is going to be a candy corn for Halloween. I picked up tiger ears and a tail for myself and Natalie is going to wear the chili pepper costume that Lauren wore for her first Halloween. I picked up a double jogging stroller on Craigslist for $40 last week and Jon did a quick fix up on the brakes for me. I can take the girls out more easily now. The weather finally turned and it's been colder and more overcast. We've had a few days in the 50s now.

Lauren starts ballet next Friday and I'm still considering putting her in part day preschool. She said she'd like to go, so I'm going to see what her options are.

Picures

Natalie's First October

Natalie is 10 months old. Lauren is 3 and a HALF! When did this happen?

Natalie is doing well. I took her to her first physical therapy appointment since we moved here today. We know she's behind, and that was nothing new to hear. The physical therapist did say she's doing well and is very strong. We're going to work on sitting. We also are going to get out the yoga ball and do some exercises on it and have her on her belly and reaching for things. He thinks she's close to crawling, it will just depend on how long it takes for her to make the connection about moving all the right things at the right time. He told us what to do at home and we go back on the 20th for another appointment.

While we were at PT, Lauren got to go to hourly daycare on base. They said she did really well. But she started crying when I got back and saying, "I don't want you to leave." Tonight at dinner, she picked a bell pepper out of her food and said, "Get out of here, pickle!" and I told her it was a bell pepper and she should try it. She said, "I don't like bell peppers. I'm just a kid!" She's so funny. I signed her up for ballet, she'll start going on Fridays in November, and I'll keep her in it as long as she likes it.

Ben has started a more regular work schedule now. The unit has come back from some training they were doing in California.

This weekend we went and checked out the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. It isn't that far of a drive from us. It was really beautiful and a nice little zoo. They had a great play area that Lauren had fun in, and it was a pretty nice day, even if it was a bit cold. Next time I'll bring a jacket. I still want to go check out the Seattle Center and the Aquarium up there. I'm also starting to keep my eyes out for a great pumpkin patch and maybe even an apple festival. I guess we missed one last weekend. Bummer.

Ben's thirtieth birthday is coming up soon. He wanted the Playstation 3, so he bought it already. Saves me some time. Hee hee. Going to see if he wants to do a party or go out to dinner or anything. It's hard since we just moved here. If we had all stayed in Texas I would have known exactly who to invite over for a party.

The Beautiful Pacific Northwest

It's really, really beautiful here.

We've had two visits with Jon (or "Uncle Higgins" as Lauren will only call him) and three visits with Ema since we've been here. On our last trip to visit her in Sequim, we went to Railroad Bridge Park and I got the awesome photo of Lauren above. I'm going to do a bit of editing on it and then order it as an 8x10 print for the house. Which is just about done. As soon as it looks good and clean I'll take pictures to post. I'll do it. This week. Maybe.

This weekend was gorgeous, about 85 degrees. Jon and his girlfriend Maya came to visit. We walked down to the lake. It's a short walk from our house, less than half a mile. We found out there are beach areas and a playground and we can rent canoes. We rented one and took turns paddling around the lake. It was a gorgeous day. We came home hungry and tired and had a brisket Ben had started that morning with mashed potatoes and green beans and it was great.

Last night after dinner we took the girls on a walk around the neighborhood. It was a chilly night, but perfect sweater weather and clear.

Ben has started back at work, but the rest of the unit is off doing training, so his normal routine won't start for a few more weeks. I've been making appointments for Natalie and getting everything set up with referrals and different specialties. She has an MRI next week and her consultation with a physical therapist. The following week we go back to see what the neurosurgeon sees when he compares the new MRI with her previous one. She's set to see Opthamology in November. We're waiting for a call about her new multi-disciplinary clinic - whatever they call it here - and when it will be scheduled. All of her appointments are already keeping me busy. I want to get Lauren enrolled in the base daycare system so I can take advantage of having that so close pretty soon. She sees the kids and wants to go play, so it may be worth it for me to take her there once a week even when Natalie doesn't have other appointments.

There's not too much else that I'm up to around here. I am keeping busy with the day to day stuff and just enjoying being home with the girls and settling into the new house. We haven't done too much exploring, but I'm hoping we'll be able to take a little weekend vacation to Seattle and see the sights and maybe after we get our passports, take a weekend vacation to Victoria.

It doesn't sound like a lot, but we have been busy. Looking forward to having visitors soon whenever anyone wants to schedule a trip!