School, teething, Mindy Kaling and public transportation.

Since last I bored you all with tales of my toddlers horrible sleeping patterns, he took a turn for the best and successfully self-soothed (2 days in a row!). Then he took a turn into the teething lane and so began the nightmare that have been the past couple of days. He twists and turns half the night, developed a low-grade fever (102) for the first time ever, which naturally scared the crap out of me so I had to stay up all night monitoring it every two hours. Thankfully I discovered Mindy Kaling's book, she's a life saver. Between 4am toddler wake ups and doses of Tylenol her intelligent and witty humor kept me sane. If you haven't read her book yet, you owe it to yourself. It's an easy read and it's so refreshing to read that someone loves her parents,encourages young women to go to college, not be promiscuous and  be the "smart girl". I love her.

My car as well as all most of my belongings are across the Pacific making their way to me as we speak, until then I have been forced to take public transportation around town, mostly to school. Classes haven't begun yet but there are an amazing amount of forms and such that I need to fill out and long lines I need to stand in (bureaucracy). It was on such a trip, that I meet a remarkable woman, she was remarkable in the sense that she made me feel like a complete idiot. For the last couple of months I've had some erroneous sense that I am so cool and awesome for being a mom that is now going back to school after eight years. This woman not only attends full time classes, with a part time job, and no car but she also has three kids! ( and no husband). Seriously?! she's a amazing. I'm over here just taking a stroll in the park, talk about humbling.

Now that I'm back on Earth, please slap me if I complain once about how hard school is in. Class starts Monday :)

I ordered this shirt in hopes of not looking like the "mom" in class. 

Right now

Currently I am struggling with getting a toddler accustomed to a new house, new climate and new time zone. It's truly exhausting but I'm so thankful my parents are around to lend a hand. The husband is still back in Hawaii dealing with a hurricane and the logistics of our move. The most frustrating thing about trying to establish our new routine is not having all of our belongings. I'm sure all military families have faced the same issue, it's hard to start all over again. Ricky has been struggling with nap time and bed time, it's only been a couple of days but some nights I just feel like pulling my hair out. We have a whole week to get this down because then I start school (yikes). Tonight was the hardest, it took me about three hours to get him to settle down. It's almost midnight here and I seriously wish we were back in Hawaii. Best next thing is to just reminisce, right? 

This is from our last day on the island at the Pacific Aviation Museum. Hopefully tomorrow will be easier and I can get Ricky to go to bed at a decent time and maybe he will take a nap WITHOUT being driven around the block.

It's been too long.

Im not sure how to describe my current feelings, all I know is that they require a lot of beach time and adult beverages. I'm not one to stress, following my much needed toddler free trip to Japan I opted for beach trips everyday, deliciously bad food and cocktails. All of these decisions made for an amazing last week in Hawaii. Unfortunately I also have a horrible sinus infection and I need to pack my bags :(
Other than trying to nurse myself back to health before heading to CA I've been spending as much time as possible with my Hawaii friends and neglecting my blog. Sorry for the epic picture dump on this post, eventually I will write a post that's all about my trip but I really need to get some stuff done for school before Ricky wakes up from his nap.

These are all from Japan and then some from my last week in HI.

Today is the day

Today WAS the day that I planned on leaving for Japan, but instead I get bumped off the Space A flight and have to wait it out until tomorrow. For everyone who is not familiar with Space A flights, basically it's a military flight that will allow active duty, families of active duty members and retirees to compete for a free seat. They usually fly to Air Force bases all over the world, so you get on a list and cross your fingers and toes hoping to make it. Today was not my day..but  maybe tomorrow will look better. On the bright side the pictures that Norma Mitchell photography took of Ricky and I for her project on motherhood are all done.

That face (lol)

If you want to check out the project Here is the link, it's a lot of beautiful mamas with their babies and their stories. 

Tha t

Wordless Wednesday a day at Sharks Cove

Our weekend and getting my body back (part II)

My brother is in town, I have one week left until I leave for Japan and exactly eight days until I turn 28.  Not counting down the days until we move to California ( 20!) well maybe, only because I am somewhere between total horror and excitement. Last month I blogged about my bucket list for Hawaii and this past weekend was definitely one of the best so far, it's places like these that will make miss this place so much. It's also times like these that make realize there is so much more fun to be had and new places to discover, maybe we can instill some of our wonder lust on Ricky. Oh and by the way.... check me out! I'm still a normal girl and by that I mean my thighs still touch and I don't wear a size 0 , no offense if you do but that will never be me and that's o.k ;) Im pretty proud of myself for being able to fit back into this 14 months after having a baby.

Our Fourth

Holidays that are meant to be enjoyed outside with a drink in your hand, BBQ, and friends are not meant for parents with toddlers. It just doesn't work, we have lived in Hawaii for almost four years now and this was our first with a toddler. Last year we stayed home and had a little BBQ, it was perfect with a three month old baby. The year before, when we were still childless was perfect. By that I mean, there was fireworks, cocktails and no one had to worry about naps or toddler melt downs.

This is what it looked like:

What happened to these people? notice how tan we both are and we probably had enough drinks this day to make me not care about kissing him in public or having a picture to prove it. I don't do this sober .
This year with a toddler in tote we argued all morning about who had "kid watch" and who got to relax with a drink by the pool. I lost that one and ended up chasing him around the pool and in it. We thought it would be smart to get a hotel room so we could go back and shower, change, feed Ricky and not fight traffic on the way home. That ended up being a good idea and a bad one, Ricky wanted to put every single germ covered surface in that room into his mouth (ugh!). He had several meltdowns that finally ended with us barely making it through the fireworks, which are after his bedtime. By the end of the day I was tired, angry and sad that my only thought at the end of the day was "man this would be so much more relaxing without the screaming kid".