2012

2012 was a good year for us.  It was nice to have a good year after a hard second half of 2011.  I’m so thankful that this past year was good and I’m excited for 2013.

The first half of the year was pretty quiet.  I spent it growing a baby.  The Man spent it trying not to go insane and counting down the days until he was no longer active duty.  Things started getting interesting in July.

Munchkin arrived in mid-July and not long after The Man separated from the Navy.  We spent the rest of the year enjoying the baby and growing into our roles as parents.  The Man had a job offer and we just wait to wait for him to start.  It took longer than we expected so he was around a lot.  He managed to get several projects done around the house, including a new fence and walkway.  Thankfully he started his job at the beginning of December.  So far he’s liking it! 

As we stare 2013 in the face, we’re excited for what’s to come.  With a job that The Man loves, a baby girl that continues to amaze us and some travel for me in the second half of the year, 2013 is shaping up to be a busy but exciting year.

I know this past year, the past few months in particular, have been a little quiet on the blog.  I’m hoping to fix that in the coming year.  For 2012, my top 6 most popular posts have been:

6. Munchkin’s Birth Story

5. Ultimate Blog Party

4. 5 Tips for Handling Pregnancy While Your Spouse is Deployed, written by Adrienne May.

3. Failed Induction

2. Wives of the Military

1. Baby Shower Gift Ideas, written by my friend Jodi.

Happy New Year!

What are you looking forward to in 2013?

Munchkin’s First Christmas

Munchkin’s first Christmas was a lot of fun.  She had no clue what was going on but Nana, Dad and I had a blast!  She napped while we were opening our presents and was awake for her stocking and most of her presents.  She got a lot of great stuff, including Violet, Sophie, Baby Einstein DVDs, CDs & books, a follow me turtle, a new duck onesie and burp cloths for the upcoming bowl game, some cloth books and a bunch of other toys.  She also got the little people nativity that I’m looking forward to her playing with next December.  I also got a few things that she’s loving, like my teething necklace or the wet/dry bag and new diaper covers. 

Carrots

At 5 1/2 months we decided to give Munchkin carrots.  She’s been reaching for food even more than before.  She grabbed Nana’s English muffin and tried to put it in her mouth, only to be disgusted with the taste.  Eventually she’ll get the hang of eating cause she didn’t like the taste of carrots either!  She wanted to help me with the spoon and when I finally got it in her mouth she was not impressed.  She got two or three small bites in before throwing it up.  We’ll wait a few days and try again.  In the meantime, you can enjoy the pictures The Man managed to get while I was feeding her.

Zoolights

Last weekend we took Munchkin to see Zoolights at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.  I’ve been wanting to go the past few years and we just never made it.  I figure having a kid is a good reason to go, even if she is only 5 months old.  Munchkin LOVES the Christmas lights we have at home so I figured she would enjoy them.  I was right!

It was raining on the way and my Mom & I were ready to head to the mall instead as walking around in the rain does not sound like fun to either one of us.  The Man convinced us that we should wait until after we ate dinner to make any decisions on what we would do.  So we ate dinner and guess what?  It stopped raining.  Gotta love the PNW!  If mom had be given the choice, she probably would have vetoed going since there was some drizzle happening but nothing that a true Northwesterner would consider rain.

Munchkin enjoyed being carried around by her daddy looking at all the lights.  Her eyes were so big and her face had this look of wonder on it.  I’m so glad we went!  I think this is going to be a yearly tradition.

Do you have any yearly outings for Christmas?

5 Months

Munchkin is now 5 months!  I’m in awe of how much she’s grown and changed.  We love this little girl so much.  Have I mentioned that she’s amazing?  While she still hasn’t rolled…well, maybe she did, once.  She’s just not interested.  She likes to do her superman impression when she’s on her belly and she’s starting to push herself up on her arms.  She’ll scoot to get her toys but rolling over? No siree, not interested!   She’ll sit up on her own for a bit too.  She’ll fall over sometimes but I’m amazed that she’s sitting. 

She has her favorite toys, including her paw teethers, her rattle, her diamond ring rattle and her monkey.  She’s started to look at you while she hold them over the side when you tell her no she’ll bring it back in.  Then she’ll put it out again and drop it.  It’s fine when it’s at home but when we’re out I have to be on the lookout for toys.  We haven’t lost any yet but I’m sure we will!

At her checkup this week she weighed in at 16 lbs 8 oz. and is 25 1/4 inches long.  That’s 90% for weight and only 50-75% for height.  I knew she wasn’t going to stay in the 90% for height but a mama could hope!  I’m not surprised she’ll end up short like her mom and dad. 

She just got an activity jumper and she LOVES it!  It’s her new favorite thing to play with.  Her feet don’t touch the bottom but we’ve placed our Wii balance board under it and it works great.  The sun might be her favorite right now.  It always in her mouth!

Christmas Cookie Swap

I found a new blog the other day, This Beautiful Life, and saw that she was hosting a Christmas Cookie Link up to swap recipes.  I thought how fun!  I managed to get my mom in on the action too (meaning she made the cookies and I took pictures!) 

I’ll be honest, I don’t like baking.  I never get into holiday baking.  When I was a kid my mom and her two best friends would take a day off work and bake ALL. DAY. LONG.  From before I left for school until long after I came home.  They made 15-20 different kinds of cookies, triple and quadrupling the batches.  Then they would split them up and everyone they knew would get cookies.  People would look forward to it because they make such amazing cookies like Norwegian Krum cakes, Kudabees and Baklava.  My all time favorite Christmas cook is baklava and I would love to share it with you but I can’t.  My mom was given the recipe by a Greek coworker who made her promise that she would never share it, only pass it down in the family. 

Instead I’m going to share a new favorite cookie of mine, White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread.  I’ve linked you to the original recipe as the one I’m going to share with you has been tweeked a little bit.  The main change?  We didn’t use white chocolate!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup maraschino cherries, drained and finely chopped

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup cold butter

2/3 cup of mini semi sweet chocolate OR 2/3 cup of normal size chips, finely chopped in the food processor (we skipped the chopping and they turned out just fine!)

4 squares semisweet baking chocolate

1/2 teaspon almond extract

2 teaspoons shortening

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Spread cherries on paper towels to drain well.

2.  In large bowl, combine flour and sugar.  Using pastry blender, cut in the butter until mixture resembles find crumbs.  Stir in drained cherries and chocolate.  Stir in almond extract.  Knead mixture until it forms a ball

3.  Shape dough into 3/4 inch balls.  Place balls two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Using the bottom of a drinking glass dipped in sugar, flatten balls to 1-1/2 inch rounds

4.  Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until centers are set.  Cool for 1 minute on cookie sheet and then transfer cookies to wire rack and let cool

5.  In a small saucepan, combine baking chocolate and shortening.  Cook and stir over low heat until melted.  Dip half of each cookie into chocolate and allow excess to drip off. 

What’s your favorite Christmas cookie?

1/3 of the Way There!

I’ve always said that when I had kids that I wanted to breastfeed for the first year.  I’m so excited that I’m 1/3 of the way there!  I’ve been breastfeeding Munchkin for 5 months (ok, so this post is a little late!)

She hasn’t had any formula since those first few weeks.  I know breastfeeding can be hard and I’m kinda surprised that it’s gone as well as it has.  I guess I expected to have more problems.  I’m thankful I didn’t!

There are two issues on the horizon.  One is that Munchkin is teething.  Both of her bottom teeth are coming in.  They are sharp little suckers.  She’s been understandably fussy and nursing has helped.  I haven’t felt the teeth yet while nursing but I’m sure that’s just a matter of time.  I’m hoping she’s not a biter!

Second, Munchkin has started to show an interest in food.  She’ll watch you like a hawk while you’re eating.  It’s funny how intent she is when she's watching you.  We were out to eat and The Man got a steak with fries.  He had Munchkin on his lap and when the plate was placed in front of him, the fries were closest to Munchkin.  She reached for them and grabbed 4 or 5 of them!  We took them away but we did give her one little one to see what she would do.  She put it in her mouth and immediately took it back out again.  She made the cutest yucky face.  She’s not a fan of French fries just yet.   If I’m holding her and I take a drink of water, she reaches for it and pulls it to her mouth.  She really wants a drink of my water.  I’ve given her a sippy cup with a little bit of water in it and she’s not sure what to do with the water.  It ends up down her front.  Since she really doesn’t need the water it’s ok!

I’ve been set on waiting till she’s six months old to start her on solids.  I’m starting to waver a little but am holding off until we see her Pediatrician.  I know they often say to start them earlier than 6 months.  From my reading I’ve learned that starting earlier than 6 months can lead to digestive issues later in life.  As for solids, I’m planning on making her baby food and also doing a little bit of baby led weaning.   We’re going to skip rice cereal and oatmeal.  We’ll start with veggies and fruits and then probably move on to meat.  At least, this is what I’m thinking.  We’ll see what ends up happening!

 

When did you introduce solids to your little one? 

What was first?

On My Own

The Man is working again after 5 months off.  We are so thankful that he was able to start so quickly, as we found out that some people have tried for 2, 3 and even 4 years to get into the Shipyard.  So far he’s liking his shop, his supervisor and the guys he works with.  It’s much more laid back than the Navy (no surprise there!)  He’ll be doing a lot of the same things he was doing but with no deployments or long hours.  If Munchkin and I are both sick, he’ll be able to stay home with us.  I think we’re going to enjoy civilian life a lot!

The first week was a little rough.  On top of working he’s been taking classes at the local community college.  So we went from him being home all day to being gone all day and a portion of the night.  The days were a little long for and and I was more than happy to have him home!  I know once we get into a routine we’ll be fine.

That routine won’t happen anytime soon as Nana will be arriving and will be here for about a month.  After that we’ll get a routine down.  I think (hope!) it will be easier once she’s a little older and isn’t teething.  The wanting to be held all day gets old  and tiring quickly.  Thank goodness for baby carriers!

Santa Success!

We brought Munchkin to meet Santa for the first time this past weekend.  She didn’t mind him holding her at all and was quite happy to sit on his lap!

Maybe next year we’ll get the crying child photo.  Every good parent has one of those!

Milspouse December Fill-In

 

I love December.  It might have something to do with the fact that my birthday and Christmas take place during this lovely month.  Let’s kick it off with the meme from Wife of a Sailor, ok?

1. What’s one thing in the past month you would have changed?

We took Munchkin to her pediatrician for a diaper rash and didn’t find out till after that her insurance changed.  We’re now responsible for the bill.  It could be a lot more but it’s a bill we weren’t expecting.  We also rescheduled an appointment because they don’t take the insurance she was changed too.  Now we’re waiting for The Man’s insurance for work to kick in so we can take her.  It’s not that big of a deal, just a pain in the butt.  Thankfully her pediatrician's office is amazing and are working with us.  I’m also thankful that they take the new insurance!  I really didn’t want to have to find a new doctor for Munchkin.

All that to say…I wish her insurance hadn’t changed or that we have known BEFORE the visit.

2. What was your favorite thing that happened in November?

This is easy!  Thanksgiving!  We had a great time spending it with family in OR.

3. What is your favorite holiday memory?

It’s hard to pick just one!  I think just remembering Christmases past with family and lots of food.  The picture was taken Christmas Eve  2005.  It was my first Christmas in the states in 3 years.  I can’t believe how long my hair is!  Or how good we all look.

4. What are your plans for New Year's Eve?

We don’t have any yet.  We’re not big into New Year’s.  We might go to our Pastor’s house for games with a bunch of people from church.  It’s always a good time!  If we don’t go, we’ll be old fogies and hang out at home and watch the ball on TV.  Though I must admit it does lack a little knowing it’s taped and the ball really fell three hours ago.  So about 2 seconds in I’ll say it’s lame and we’ll switch over to watch the fireworks at the Space Needle.

5. What are you looking forward to in December?

My mom visiting, date night with The Man (free babysitting WAHOO!) CHRISTMAS!

Wordless Wednesday

Old Friends

I love opening the container with Christmas ornaments. Every year I feel like I’m greeting old friends as we take them out and hang them on the tree. What great memories they hold!

When I was growing up , my parents would buy my a Christmas ornament.  That way when I got old enough to move out, I would take them with me and not have a sad, bare tree.  Their plan worked great.  In addition to my own personal ornaments, my parents let me take whatever ones I wanted because my Mom didn’t want to put up a tree anymore.  The reindeer ornament in the photo above is a favorite.  It has the year, 1987 and my name on the other side.  I’ve been hanging in on my tree for 25 years.  Talk about an old friend!

Imagine my surprise and delight when The Man told me that his parents had done the same thing!  We even have some of his childhood Christmas decorations (like his advent calendar.)  Having these items from our childhood thrills me.  I tend to be sentimental and I love having pieces from the past.

Since we have ornaments from both of us our tree is a little eclectic.  The Man’s ornaments are predominantly Star Trek themed.  They’re the cool ornaments that plug into the lights and they make noise and light up.  I really enjoy them and not just because I have too!  Mine are random and are mostly bulbs.  Then there are the ones we’ve acquired since getting married, like the globe ornament we got on our honeymoon or the Disney one from our trip last year.

Breakables always go near the top of the tree and nonbreakables go on the bottom.  I’ve been doing this since before munchkin.  Curious kitties and puppy dog tails have been known to remove ornaments.  Our bottom branches are all our plush ornaments.  We have an Eeyore, a Stitch and some Bath & Body Works sheep, among others.

We’re going to continue the tradition of buying ornaments for Munchkin that she can take with her when she grows up and moves out.  She’s gotten 4 ornaments this year alone!  One is a gorgeous one from Nana.  It’s her name and is gold plated.  My first thoughts when I saw it was I don’t want her to take it when she leaves in 18 years!  Thankfully it will grace our family tree for many years to come before that happens.  Maybe by then I’ll be able to part with Rudolf and she can have one my childhood ornaments as well.  Maybe, because as you can see, Rudolf is well loved!

Do you have any traditions regarding decorating your Christmas tree?

What are your favorite ornaments?