What a big boy!

Well, AJ has decided that the potty is a very interesting item in the house these days. He has taken to sitting on the potty for about 1/2 hour at a time and then proceeding to wash his hands after and go about his business. Well, yesterday he didn't want to put a diaper back on and went into Elizabeth's room and got her panties out to put on. Seeing as how I don't really want my little boy running around in pink princess underwear, I went out today and bought him some Elmo briefs, pull-ups and a wish that he would just train himself. Well, after he had woken up from his nap, he proceeded to the bathroom and said he had to go potty so off came the diaper and up he climbed. I assumed he wouldn't do anything so I went about my business and was in the other room when I heard the scream of "pooooopie, Mommy pooooooopie". I went to the bathroom to discover my little man had successfully completed his business in the toilet. After a lot of celebrating, we pulled out the Elmo undies. Well, he didn't do so well in those but I imagine that it will be a little while before he is ready for that step but we are off to a good start!

Doesn't he look proud?

Stuck In Neutral

At Shelley's request, I took some short video of Jacob in his beginning stance of crawling. This isn't his best work but is what I could catch at the time. I am sure our little man will be crawling before too long and then I will officially have three to chase after!

The Beast

OK - so Jacob isn't really a beast but because of his size, we have deemed him that. I wanted to post his 7 month stats but to be honest, I can't give you exacts because he has been so sick lately. Last week he spiked a fever of 103 and it lasted for 5 days. On the third day of the fever we took him into the doctor and he told me to wait and see if a rash developed and then we would know it was Roseola. On day 4 with no rash and a continuing fever, we went back in for blood work and chest x-rays with suspected Valley Fever. The radiologist said she saw Valley Fever so we waited anxiously for a call back from the pediatrician. The next morning, the pediatrician called with the request for us to come in to take a look at the x-rays together along with discuss any treatment options. Well, after a long case of Mommy worrying, it turns out that he has pneumonia and Roseola (he developed the rash later that day). As sick as he may seem I am so thankful that it is not Valley Fever!!! Anyway, to make a long story short - he has lost some wait through this all so I'm not sure exactly what his 7 month stats are for sure.
But needless to say, he is still a very big boy with his most recent weight being 20 lb. 11 oz. and 28 3/4 inches. He has perfected his sitting skills and now is showing us that he is ready to crawl. He rocks on all fours any chance he gets. He is also babbling more than ever before with literally saying "blah blah blah" all day long. We have gotten a few "da da's" as well but I don't think they were intentional. He has also popped one tooth with another one coming any day. He is enjoying his new room in his crib with his brother sleeping not to far away. They are doing surprisingly well so far. Let's hope that he is on the mend and starts feeling better so we can see some more of his ever so impressive smiles.

A Rare Sighting

Those of you that have more than one child know that it is a rare occurrence that the kids actually play together nicely without trying to kill each other. Now to see all three of them playing together and getting along must be a once in a lifetime event. I am so glad that we were able to catch it on film!

Shuttle Landing

One of our privileges of living out in the middle of nowhere includes that ability to see some really cool things. Last Friday, we got the opportunity to see the shuttle Atlantis land here at Edwards AFB after it missed its opportunity in Florida. We loaded the kids in the car and drove over to a hill where you can see all of the flight line. At exactly 12:49PM, the shuttle appeared very high in the sky. Once it was seen it banked in from the south. We heard two sonic booms (which I must say scared the daylights out of AJ) as it continued its decent. What I was most amazed by was how fast it plumeted. It was a very fast and very steep decent but the landing was wonderful and appeared to be very smooth. When the parachute deployed, Elizabeth thought it was really cool because it was "hot pink" (actually it was red but we won't tell her). Anyway, an experience like this makes me thankful to be part of the military and live where I do.

I know it is blurry but if you look in the middle, the white dot is the shuttle when we first saw it.

The shuttle after landing. It was parked on the runway for about an hour before it was towed over to the NASA building where it is to be loaded onto the 747 and flown back to Florida.

Aloha, Part 2

Morning number 2 rolled around and our energy returned. We went and hung out at the beach in the morning, and then it was off to the USS Arizona Memorial followed by a sunset cruise on the Star of Honolulu. As usual in Hawaii, the morning was beautiful with only a few clouds in the sky over the mountains. We got some coffee and then headed down to the beach. Once again, Mike hung out in the water as I watched. I do have to admit that I did go in for a little bit just to cool off but watching Mike play like a little kid was much more fun! After an hour or so down in the sand, we headed back up to the room for showers and then were off to lunch. Upon finishing lunch, we jumped in the car and found our way over to Pearl Harbor. We started at the USS Arizona Memorial.
The tours were running about 1 1/2 hours after arrival so we meandered around the displays they had. We ended up getting the audio tours (out of laziness not to read) and that took about as long as our wait. We were then ushered into a theater where we watched a wonderful film about the happenings of that day. Once the film ended, we loaded up on a boat and rode over to the memorial site. It was very impressive. I must say that I was disappointed in most of the tourists not treating the area like a true memorial site but I suppose that is the fault of the park rangers for not enforcing it. Anyway, it was a wonderful thing to go see.

Once back at the hotel we changed and headed for our pick-up site to go to our sunset dinner cruise. The dinner consisted of steak and crab legs along with veggies and bread. Needless to say (as you can see from the picture below) we were packed in there like sardines. Once Mike and I finished dinner we headed outside to take in the views of Oahu and enjoy being out on the water. I must say that this wasn't my favorite thing that we did but I am glad we did it.

Day three began with Mike headed to the beach while I took a long shower and relaxed in the room for a while knowing that we were going to go to the Polynesian Culture Center later that day. We then headed up the hills to the other side of Oahu to Kaneohe and Kahana Bay where we say some of the most beautiful tropical areas. The mountains are always covered with clouds and there is a constant mist so the greenery is very lush.

Once we got to the Polynesian Culture Center, we had a blast learning about all the different Polynesian islands. Our favorite presentations were the Samoan and the Tahitian ones. In the Samoa village we learned how to make fire, crack coconuts and climb coconut trees.


In the Tahiti village we learned how to Tahitian dance. Mike took a whirl at it but I think he perfected the chicken dance instead.



After a long day learning about all of the different cultures, we headed back to the hotel and walked along the beach. Every Friday night there is a firework display so we got to enjoy that as well.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed the pictures so far - check back for the next part - coming soon!

Aloha, Part 1

For those of you that have been patiently waiting . . .

Well, Mike and I made it safely back from our vacation in Hawaii. We got home two weeks ago and after about 12 hours of traveling (some delays - but who is counting), we were so excited to see the kids again and tell them all about our trip. Being we did so much and took so many pictures, I am going to break this into several parts over the next couple of days. We arrived on Wednesday, March 30th about 11AM local time but with the time change we were quite tired so on the first day we decided to just check out the hotel grounds and hang out at the beach. We stayed at the Hale Koa Hotel, which is an Armed Forces resort located on Waikiki Beach in Oahu. We had heard wonderful things about it but didn't realize what a wonderful and beautiful place it was until we got there. The hotel was built sometime in the early 70's and then another tower was added in the 90's. Our room was located on the older side but besides the lime green tile in the shower, you would have never known it was the older side. Our room was a "two view" room which meant we had two complete walls of the room that were windows. One faced downtown Honolulu and the other had a balcony that overlooked the ocean. What a view! Upon our wandering, we discovered wonderful grounds with three pools, a GREAT bar, and a beautiful beach that is only seen in postcards! The beach was much less crowded than any other part of the beaches that we walked along later. Mike spent the first day wading in the water as I watched from the beach. My hesitance with the water ended up dying down as the week went on. We then had a small dinner at Biba's Cafe at the Hale Koa and headed for bed early so we could have energy to explore the island the next day.Stay tuned for Part 2.

Our hotel - we were in the tower on the left.

The beach at the Hale Koa - it was so nice because there weren't that many people there compared to other beaches that we went to.

We decided to try one of the restaurants at the hotel the first night we were there. Mike looks like he is getting into the vacation train of thought . . .

The view out of our hotel balcony.

The beach at the Hale Koa - it was nice because it wasn't so crowded!

Home Is Where The Military Takes You

Well, we have finally made it to Edwards AFB in California. We have been here a little less than a week and it actually feels really good to be back. I can't believe how many familiar faces we have seen and we feel like we are back where we are meant to be - on the west coast! Anyway, we must have done something right along the way because we were assigned a brand new house that was just built and has never been lived in. It is a 4 bedroom ranch that has enough space for 10 kids (not that we are having any more) and a garage that is a size that any man would be envious of. We will get our household goods delivered on the 20th and then the craziness of unpacking will begin. Anyway, I will try and keep this blog more updated as I gain access to a computer. Please e-mail me if I haven't given you our new address as I don't want to post it on here. I hope all is well with everyone and we really miss our friends back in Dayton.

Oh yeah - for those of you that are waiting, I am slowly working on our posts from Hawaii!