Friday, July 25, 2008

Daddy's home!

Well, Mark is home for a couple of weeks! While he was underway, he was involved in an incident on the boat and is on restriction to the boat until Tuesday at 4pm. He got 10 days total, but has already done most of them. Audree and I got to go on the boat, in the pouring rain yesterday to see him. It was very scary...we had to stand on the sub, on top of it, in the pouring ice-cold rain. I thought for sure we were going to fall off the side. We didn't obviously, but we had to go down the hatch. That was very interesting. It was narrow and straight down...no slant at all. I stayed in the galley for the most part and then he showed me around the boat. The boat's idea of chicken parmasean was a fried chicken patty with spaghetti sauce and cheese. It was very interesting. The boat was neat...very small and tight, but full of stuff. They have all these crazy places to stick trash and this weird tube where they put the trash, it gets compacted and then shot out of the bottom of the boat into the ocean. Talk about littering, huh?

Last night I went to bed about midnight (seeing Mark tired me out--I've been going to bed around 4:30-5am!) and then woke up to feed Audree about 2:30 I think, then put her back in her crib, fed her about 6:30, put her back and she didn't wake up again until noon. She's added that halfway feeding around 1:30-2:30 recently...I'm not sure why, she doesn't always eat, I guess she just wants comfort. Other than that she's sleeping through the night. After that she wakes up between 10:30-noon and we play for an hour or so and then she takes her nap. We just play throughout the day, run errands...whatever. She goes to bed between 7 and 9, just whenever she's tired. I give her a bath before bed, usually. Today, she woke up and spit up shortly after so I went ahead and gave her a bath and put her in some new clothes I bought for her yesterday. I'm trying to find sleepers for her because she's out of 3-6m stuff and 6-9m stuff is too big. So...she doesn't really fit into anything. It stinks because I have about 20-25 sleepers she never wore. Good thing they're unisex and can be use for our next baby! After her bath today, I brushed her hair and got her dressed, all the normal stuff, then I laid her on the bed while I stood in front of her and got dressed. She started sucking her thumb and went to sleep so I moved her to her crib, which of course woke her up. I turned on her music thingy and she went right back to sleep. I've stopped nursing her to sleep and rocking her to sleep now. I rock her while I feed her, and when she's still barely awake, I put her in her crib. She puts herself to sleep now, which is good...she's not dependent on certain things. If I leave her with a sitter I know she'll be okay now. If she wakes up, I don't have to rock her for 30 minutes to get her to go to sleep anymore, either. I have certain songs, mostly from the Jungle Book, that I sing to her and dance with her to during the day and she really likes that. I've been playing Mark's favorite songs since he's been gone and it reminds us of him. I'm baking pumpkin bread to take to him today and a cheesecake tomorrow...although he says he doesn't "need" it.

I get to go at 5:30 to see him for a few hours. It's very strange to be told that you can only see your husband during his visiting hours, but oh well. When I talked to the guys on Mark's boat, they said that they guy Mark was involved with was very annoying and that one of them was going end up doing something if someone didn't. Oh well...Mark's doing well, though. I'm leaving to see him around 5; he wants Starbuck's so I'm going to get that for him on my way. A friend also picked up the movie Dodgeball, which is Mark's favorite, for me to take to him. I've been looking for it for the past month or so to no avail. I'm so glad...thanks Kim! He'll be excited to see it :).

Yesterday, after I saw Mark, I took Audree to the Nex to look for the movie for Mark and for sleepers for Audree. I put her in the Snugli and she fell asleep so quickly! I decided that, since I didn't have anything better to do, I was going to just walk around the Nex and then the commissary and just kinda kill time while she took a nap. It's so rare that she naps on me anymore. She really likes to be with me and play with me, but sleeping on me...no way. I really enjoyed it. While I was at the Nex, I picked up some clothes for Audree. I bought her this adorable purple outfit (I don't like purple but it looks cute against her red hair!). The top is a onesie, but it has this little flowy part that covers the matching corduroy pants. So, it looks like she's wearing a shirt, not a onesie, like a big girl! I love it. Here's some pics:

Saying hello to daddy yesterday before we went to see him, wearing her pink sailor suit.

She looks so worried!

I just love this outfit!

She's precious!

Buried in my hair while I was talking on the phone the other day.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Warning: picture overload.

Mark is still out to sea. He's due home soon and we're very excited to see him! Audree's gained about 2 pounds or so; she's about 15 pounds now. She's in 3-6 month clothing and size 2 diapers. She's such a big girl! Even better news is...she sat up for the first time yesterday! Yep! She was laying on her back on my lap and I was getting ready to feed her. All of a sudden, she pulled herself into a sitting position. I was so shocked! I tried to lay her down to feed her, and she resisted. She really was sitting up! She laid back down after about 30 seconds or so and then sat back up twice more during her feeding. She's growing so fast and my memory, blog and video camera just can't keep up! I'm glad I'm recording all of this because it's flying by. She is also sleeping from about 9pm-6am, waking up to eat and then sleeping from 6.30am-9.30 or 10am. She wakes up, I play with her for about an hour and then she takes another nap for about 30-45 minutes. She's up for the rest of the day. Occasionally, she'll take a nap around 4 or so for about an hour, but not usually.

I'm losing weight and I'm so excited! I bought jeans before Mark left and...they fall off me now! They're just so big. I can't believe it. I feel so much better about myself. I'm not looking at the scale really; the way my clothes fit is a perfect indicator. I'm feeling better, eating better and being more active and it shows. So, I went shopping with Kay, Ava's mom, and bought new jeans. They're a size 10!! I was a 12 when Mark left, so yay! I'm excited to see his face when he sees me :).

Mark's been having some trouble on the boat but we're hoping nothing comes of it. I'm also having trouble with some bleeding due to my PCOS. I have to have that checked out soon and have a biopsy done. I'm not looking forward to it.

Anyway, that's our update. I'm making a lot more friends here; I met Kay, who had Ava the day after I had Audree, with the same midwife, in the same hospital, in the room beside mine. We actually met on Mother's Day, I do believe. I also met Nicole, whose husband Paul is on Mark's boat. Her husband is a TM and Mark seems to get along with him okay. Nicole has a son named John that's about 2 weeks younger than Audree. I'm making new friends and getting to know the area better. Mark's being gone means that I am meeting more people...and, dishes and laundry stay clean and so does the house. However, I'm dying for him to come home and turn the house upside down again. It's almost too clean; I have nothing to do! I'm going to repot my herbs. We bought some before Mark left and, surprisingly enough, I've kept them all alive! I just need to repot them now.

No more pictures, please.

She's a thumbsucker now!

How cute is this?!

Watching Rachel Ray.

"What are you?" she says.

She loves tummy time!

Fresh out of the bath and VERY unhappy!

Napping in her pack and play...she was swaddled, but she wiggled out of it.

Conked out on her playmat.

The adorable outfit Stevi sent.

She didn't like the shoes, though.

She looks beautiful!

Kim's son Landon and Audree.

She says hello.

Having fun!

She gave me a hickey.

This onesie is too cute!

Gotta love the mohawk.

The onesie says, "I love daddy" and has bubbles all over it.

All of her bathing suits...the one on the right fits now.

Big blue eyes!

Big eyes!

I like this cute onsie...and the even cuter face!

She likes the computer, too!

Audree and I watching Mark's sub leave.

Can you see all of us? I'm holding Audree, and Mark's sub is in the background.

Winking baby!

Audree and mommy

Audree and Ava

Monday, July 7, 2008

4th of July and another goodbye...

Mark is gone again but he'll be home soon. He's been pretty sick so we didn't do too much this weekend...we went to see fireworks on Saturday night and then to the base fair on Sunday. I also bought some herbs to start my herb garden outside this time, so the cat doesn't fill up on Parsley and Cilantro again :\. Here's some pics from our weekend!

Oh--Audree is 60 days old today! Her 2 month birthday is tomorrow, yay!

He'll be home soon.

He carries his world on his shoulders, in that seabag.

All of us at the fair.

Daddy and Audree in front of the fair

Mommy and Audree in front of the fair

A close-up

A team effort...Mark and I threw darts and won this little puppy for her.

Big grins!

Little smiles

He loves the way she smells.

Hold on tight, baby girl. He'll be home soon.

He loves feeding her.

His face looks weird, but she likes the thumbs-up!

She's hiding...lol.

Before the fireworks

Daddy and Audree in front of the fireworks.

Daddy and Audree watching the fireworks.

Us at the fireworks.

They're really good at this sleeping thing.

Streeeetch!


Nakie sleeping baby
She's so cute!

All pretty in her 4th of July gear!

She put her hand on there...I was trying to put it on her head but it didn't work.

Such a funny face

This one is priceless!

How festive

Getting ready to go pick daddy up from the pier!