Wise or Regretful?

Wyatt and I leave one week from today and won't return until December 30, which pretty well encompasses the entire Christmas season. So I've decided we're not putting up our tree because really, do we want to do all that work just to have to take it down as soon as we get back? Now I'm wondering if I'll regret that decision...I mean, it is Wyatt's first Christmas. Am I cheating him out of some milestone?! Help talk me off this ledge.

And by the way, Leslie, this is all because I just saw the picture of Michael in front of your tree. Thanks a lot!

I'd also like to note that I'm feeling WAAAYYYY behind on this Christmas shopping stuff. Therefore, there will be few Okinawan gifts for all of you at home unless you send some specific requests. That was fair warning! This also means that I'll be doing LOTS of shopping when I hit American soil. Poor little me :)

Taking Advantage

We've decided that this is probably the closest we'll ever live to the beach and that we don't enjoy it nearly enough. Therefore, tonight's dinner was turned into a picnic at Sunabe Beach with the Drews. I mean, really, if we get sent somewhere north of oh, say Miami, we will regret not taking advantage of shorts and tshirt weather in late November. Of course it looked like we were packing for a weekend away, not an hour for dinner but it was totally worth turning the husbands into pack mules in exchange for our front row seats to a beautiful sunset :)




And lest you think we're unaware, ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!! What a game! Jeff was actually at work (we calculated the start time incorrectly) so he had to settle for my play-by-plays over the phone. Wyatt lost interest in actually watching (must work on this!) but seemed rather entertained by my cheering, jeering and singing. Go figure. It's a good day to bleed Crimson and Blue :)

Time Flies

My baby is 5 months old today! How did this happen? It seems like just yesterday we were looking at each other saying, "what are we going to name this little boy?" Two hours later, we decided on Wyatt - which means little warrior, by the way - and a Wyatt he is. It's like he takes another tiny piece of my heart every day.

His 5 month milestones:
Two teeth have broken through on the bottom.
He's mastered bouncing in his exersaucer.
He can sit by himself long enough for me to take two pictures (Heather - I totally tried that because of our conversation yesterday) but not longer; that's when he topples over and might or might not bump his head on the nearby chair.
He can stand up if holding onto our hands or the edge of his exersaucer.
He's learning how to hang out in the front yard with the neighbors.
He runs our house.

Not bad for 5 months. Now, the pictures.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It was a great day here - 87 degrees, sunny, lots of great food and fun friends - a memorable Thanksgiving. Wyatt even decided to nap while we ate; how thoughtful! After that, he got to play in Isaac's jumperoo (he loved it), watch the adults play football/keep away and had his very first shoulder ride.



Hope your Thanksgiving is happy, too :)

We're Not in Kansas Anymore....

...or are we? We're having a big storm right now with thunder and even a few power flickers. Plus, we're in an island-wide tornado watch! It's just like home. Wrong season, but still...what a perfect day to stay inside! Wyatt's sleeping like a champ and I'm trying to figure out if I should drink hot coffee, hot tea or hot cocoa. Such decisions! Hopefully it'll clear up for Thanksgiving day and for Friday's turkey trot festivities. If not...oh well! It finally feels like fall :)

Happy Thanksgiving from DECA

DECA is the Defense something Commissary Agency. They run our grocery store. Apparently they think the best way to say Happy Thanksgiving to Americans living overseas is to run out of standard holiday items. Hope no one on island wanted real cranberries this year because -oops! - they're unavailable. What? You need some half and half for your baking delights? Sorry. We're out.

Let's look on the bright side: at least they didn't run out of crescent rolls like they did last year (or maybe that was at Christmas so there's still time for it to happen again) and the rumors about no pecans and no more turkeys turned out to be false. Phew! I guess that could bring up a whole different entry about our AWESOME radio station. No, not plural. Singular. Radio. Station. And it sucks. And they spread rumors about no turkeys and no pecans.

But hey, it was about 75 today so I guess I have nothing to complain about :)

Please Step Back

Well, we've clearly had our two steps forward this week (Wyatt had many good nights in a row, many days of good napping, etc.) so it's time to take our one step back. And that has arrived in the form of a new tooth that makes for a grumpy little guy. Can you blame him,though? Me neither. I believe him that it doesn't feel good and that little tooth popped through in about a day and seems to be bringing its buddy along for the ride. While I am thrilled that Wyatt is getting his teeth in the "normal" order, it still kind of amazes me how quickly I'd gotten used to NOT getting up every two hours. Oh well. I feel bad enough for him that I'm really okay with it.

Oh, and Millie's under the weather, too. She's had these bumps on her belly for a couple weeks (or maybe over a month - I've lost track) now and we just assumed it was an allergic reaction that she couldn't quite kick. I FINALLY took her to the vet today where I learned (in Engrish from the Japanese tech and vet) that she has "maaaany, many bacteria on skin" (you have to say that in a funny sing-songy Japanese way for it to be realistic) and apparently has "ummm...and also a blahblahblah fungus. Benadryl very good medicine, yes? umm....but no for bacteria, yes?" Yes. I get it. We've been letting our dog suffer for quite a while because we assumed (I think we all know what that makes us) that it was yet another allergy. Now we have to dose antibiotics twice a day, benadryl 2-4 times per day and give her two baths per week with prescription shampoo. I had to make a chart because honestly, there are days I forget to feed Millie, let alone remembering to give her medications and baths. Hopefully my handy-dandy check-off calendar will do the trick.

Don't worry, Unit C, we'll get her all cleaned up before we leave her with you for 2 weeks! Promise.

Rock Chalk!

What an awesome way to start our Sunday - Wyatt chattering in his crib and Jayhawk football on TV! And better yet, it was KU/K-State and the hawks prevailed. Lots of cheering, singing of Rock Chalk, the alma mater and I'm a Jay-Jay-Jay-Jay-Jayhawk this morning. Wyatt is wearing crimson and blue in honor of the big game and even donned his KU hat for the first time.

And now we're going to our favorite coffee shop with the Drews. Seriously people, life rocks!

Fingers Crossed...

Well, another night down and Wyatt was pretty good! He woke up once (this time at 3:45, so almost two hours later than the night before!) but this time I fed him. I thought maybe that meant we could skip the 6ish wake up, but I wrong. I will not be fooled again! He also spent all morning with Jeff because baby Jackson's shower was today and...brace yourselves....he took a bottle not once, but twice! And the second time was after I was home! He was looking at me, but taking a bottle from his daddy. Such relief. We're keeping our fingers crossed that he's coming around to our way of doing things :) Hopefully both of these new habits will be in full swing when we get back to the states in a few weeks so all you family members can cuddle and feed him to your heart's content (and maybe while you're doing that I'll have to take many unnecessary trips to Target, Nordstrom, TJMaxx, Old Navy, Gap....)

Hallelujah!

I write about this with the full understanding that it may not happen again for months, but Wyatt slept last night!!! We put him down around 7:30, as usual, and he woke up just as we were going to bed so I fed him. I had an epiphany of sorts - his room was a kind of cold - could that be why he's so disgruntled in the night? (My parents are probably thinking "I told you so" right now because when they first arrived this summer I was still having post-partum hot flashes that meant I had the ac at about 65 but was sweating in shorts and a tshirt while everyone else was wearing long pants and long sleeves. They gently suggested that perhaps my newborn was cold, too.) So we got smart and put the dehumidifier in his room because (A)it puts out a fair amount of heat and (B) that means the white noise is right there, not out in the hallway. Result: Wyatt woke up once, at 2ish and only cried for a couple minutes before falling back to sleep, then woke up again at 5:45. I fed him and he went back to sleep until 8:45! Is this the beginning of my new life? Probably not (I'm not that naive) but it was nice, whatever it was!

Of course today it seems as though he might be getting a cold, so maybe that accounts for the extra sleep. Whatever! He's in a good mood and now down for his nap, so we'll just let this ride and see how it goes.

A Few Things

1. I didn't mean to sound so desperate about this sleep thing - the kind emails and phone calls I've gotten have made me realize that it might have been coming across a little differently than intended.
2. I really wasn't mad at Jeff. I was just frustrated that, at 3:45 am, I was having to choose if it was more important for my husband or my son to be sleeping. All's well that ends well - Jeff just got home and the ride went okay.
3. Jeff didn't even realize he'd reacted to Wyatt's crying prior to going in and checking on him. When I mentioned his pillow-over-the-head thing, he apologized profusely so then I felt bad for even mentioning it to all of you.
4. Wyatt tried rice cereal for the first, second and third times today. He liked it the second time (as in, he actually ate some!) but not the first and third times. Of course, it was mixed with formula the first and third times...are you seeing a pattern here?
5. For those of you who weren't aware, we have a seriously type A personality on our hands with sweet Wyatt. He enjoyed the cereal during the second attempt but - I kid you not - had to be holding the spoon himself. More precisely, he had one hand on my right hand "helping" guide the spoon and then his other hand was holding the edge of the actual spoon. I had to wrestle it from his kung fu grip a couple times. I would post a picture of it, but we were alone and I couldn't figure out how to document it. I'm sure we'll do it again :)
6. In all the venting about his non-sleep, I've failed to update all the fun stuff. So here are some pictures (the fall clothes are courtesy of his friend Isaac - it's nice to have friends who are kind enough to loan a super-cute wardrobe). He got all dressed up for church the other day.

This is what happens when you have to take a break from exersaucering:

Wyatt and Millie are now the same height and becoming good friends

We had chili for dinner last night. How convenient to have a cracker dispenser on the table.

And lastly, is it just me or is he just wanting to know if he can have my kashi and skip the whole rice cereal thing?

Well....

Thanks to the two of you who actually commented. To everyone else: I'm surprised at you! You know, you can always post anonomously :) Anyway, last night was similar, although I tried to make him cry it out at 3:40 because, honestly, a kid that has eaten at 7:30, 10:40 and 1:15 can't really be hungry, right? The crying it out thing is a non-issue for me. I don't know if I'm mean, callous, cold, or just really tired, but it doesn't bother me. If I know he's not sick and that he's breathing just fine (wailing is a good indicator of that) then hey, cry away little man.

But here's the interesting part: my husband - the same one who can sleep through the full-volume monitor sitting 3 feet from his head - doesn't sleep well before big rides and, of course, was already sleeping like crap last night due to an upgrade ride today. So as soon as I make the decision that Wyatt's going to cry it out, dear husband starts tossing, turning, gets up to go to the bathroom, sighs and puts a pillow over his head. You have to be kidding me! NOW I feel guilty - AS IF THERE ISN'T ENOUGH MOTHER GUILT IN THIS WORLD ALREADY!!!! So I get up and end up feeding Wyatt, AGAIN, just so he'll go back to sleep. And here's the cherry on my guilt sundae: when I put Wyatt back to bed (because biting me is an indicator that he's finished eating), he's blowing fricking raspberries. So I go back to bed and Wyatt starts coughing (sticking your fingers waaaaayy back in your mouth can trigger that) and Jeff gets up to check on him. Novel concept - how about if you do that oh, say, any other night when your son isn't sleeping?! Then he comes back to our room, where I've gotten out of bed AGAIN because the guilt is in overdrive and reports, "he was coughing so I thought I should check on him." Right. Because I've been the mean mommy and have ignored our son's needs.

Can't a girl get a break? Yes, she can. This time we're going to see if it comes in the form of rice cereal. Despite my previous decision to wait until the 6 month mark (and really, to wait until after we've crossed the Pacific twice for the holidays), Wyatt will be getting to explore the world of solids very soon. I'll keep you posted. The upside to all of this is that Wyatt woke up at his old time today (7:20) with a smile on his face and actually hung out in his swing so I could take a shower. We're now enjoying our morning routine and he'll be going down for his first nap very soon. I think we're on the road to recovery :)

Add One to the Tally

Another night gone and we're still getting up every three hours. Yes, I know that's better than every two hours but please, let's not split hairs. And last night I gave him the teething tablet and tylenol cocktail to no avail. I am officially soliciting advice. Anyone have any? We're so screwed up on sleep patterns over here that he's now sleeping until 9 (his normal nap time) and while he's awake at 9:30 currently, he's in a seriously grumpy mood. It's probably not helping that I've had a raging headache since 1 am. So seriously, good readers, please send all your advice my way. We're ready.

What Gives?

Why is this parenting thing always two steps forward, one step back?! Why did it seem like Wyatt was this close to sleeping through the night while Leon and Martha were here and now we've spent 3 nights getting up every 2 hours? I mean, if there were an illness to blame, I think it would have made a daytime appearance by now. But it hasn't. Does this have something to do with the wolf teeth? Because I haven't told you - they're apparently retractable. That's right, retractable wolf teeth. Seriously, how cool a trick is that? Wyatt's always going to have a "little known fact" about himself for icebreakers with a gimmick like that. But for now, I'd like them to either come in all the way or decide to wait for their normal turn in entering my kiddo's mouth because I think maybe they have something to do with the nighttime screaming fits. The good news: ummm, Jeff is still sleeping through it without issue so it's not affecting his upgrade preparation. That just makes it all better :)

In other Wyatt news, I think he has officially started posing for the camera! He's hanging out in his saucer right now (standard morning ritual while I eat, make coffee, check email) and I was chatting with him while ago and he just started smiling at me. So I went to get the camera and he turned on the charm as soon as I aimed the lens his direction.



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It's now 12 hours later and I'm just now getting around to finishing this post. Where does my day go? Today it went to the phone gods (many phonecalls today, many), to the nap-protester, to the commissary, to laundry, to big batch sugar cookies, to pick up the Crapina and for a walk (standard 2-loop with the Drews) - all before coming home to fix dinner and put Mr. Nap Protester to bed. Another pseudo-big day in my life.

The highlights: around 5:00 tonight, Lisa agreed to take me over to Payless Motors to pick up the Crapina, whose windows were being fixed - finally - so I decided I should call first to make sure they were still open. They answered (in what I can only assume to be Japanese, so of course I just start rattling away in English - how un-assimilated is that?!) and said they "close very soon". I said I could be there in 10 minutes and I wanted to come pick up my Carina (had to use the real name so as not to confuse them) and the guy thought for a second, then said "hai! you come pick up. Hurry!" Click. That was it. Hurry! This cracked me up. And Lisa and I were laughing thinking that if you called Jiffy Lube in the States, they would (#1) tell you that they were closing and if you made it, fine but sorry about your luck if you didn't and (#2) would somehow seem much more offensive in telling you to hurry before hanging up on you. But here it's just funny. This place amuses me to no end. Seriously, we've been here just shy of 2 years and it's not losing its charm in the least.

Second highlight: PC and Sandy did NOT get eaten by the Rottweilers while we were on our walk tonight. I mean, I know a few of you readers are Rottie lovers and I live with a Rottie lover, but seriously dude! You weigh about 250 and your two dogs just pulled your feet out from under you like you weighed a buck-o-five soaking wet. And good call on letting go of the leash for one of your attack dogs; that's a nice touch. Good thing you shouted out that verbal command just before rabid Carl sunk his teeth into Sandy's neck. And even better thing Lisa and PC have Sandy in a slip collar that she can slink right out of. And Mr. Rabid Rottie owner? Just because PC said "it's okay" in a nice voice while you were apologizing all over yourself doesn't actually mean it's okay. Clearly there was nothing okay about it, except that PC and Sandy did NOT get eaten by the Rottweilers.

New Addiction?

Actually, same addiction, new place to satisfy it. I told you we went to that cute little coffee shop yesterday...well, we went back today. We ran there, though, so doesn't that count for something? And today we had to try their cheese toast and the apple cinnamon toast - both awesome. I can't wait to start steering our morning walks that direction :)



We're taking care of Nathan tonight while Lisa and PC go to their Marine Corps ball, so wish us luck! Jeff made mention earlier of starting some project around the house when Nathan came over, but I informed him we're probably going to need all hands on deck. It's good for us to have a preview of our lives this time next year. We'll let you know if anything truly entertaining happens :)

Nothing to Blog Here, Nothing to Blog

We've just been living our somewhat normal life lately, and it's made me think of that phrase the cops used to use after high school football games: "everyone go home. Nothing to see here, nothing to see." Don't get me wrong, we're loving every minute of Wyatt's normalcy, but there's really nothing exciting happening. Jeff had today off so we got a late(ish) start, visited a new coffee shop near the seawall that is so cute and has tasty iced lattes, chocolate muffins and cappucinos (yeah, I had all three) and then visited a friend up at the hospital. We took the Crapina* in to the shop and then we all took late afternoon naps before heading down the block to have a beer with friends. See? There's nothing exciting about any of this.

*Previously I told you I drove a Carina and that's what it still says on the back of the vehicle; however, given its propensity to need a trip to the shop almost every week and the fact that it lost a hubcap somewhere in the last week, I now lovingly refer to it as the Crapina. You can, too.

And now that Wyatt's in bed, we're rounding out our very average day with some tortilla soup (thanks for the recipe, Lisa, we LOVE it - or as you would say, we luh-huv it) and we're catching up on back episodes of 24 while Millie cuddles on the couch with us. I love my normal life :) Tomorrow will probably bring more of the same, so I wouldn't come rushing back to check this blog if I were you! If anything exciting happens, I'll be sure to document it with some photos.

Cultural Immersion

I will start this by recognizing there's no possible way I can do justice to what I just saw. However, it was funny so I will try.

I was flipping channels and stopped on a Japanese channel because there were grown men dressed up like bugs on a set that made it look like they were in the grass. Jeff said they'd watched A Bug's Life too many times, if that helps you get a visual. So that, in itself, is pretty funny, right? Because honestly, Japanese men have NO ISSUES walking around in head-to-toe spandex and this time they also had on spandex headpieces with antennae. Moving on.

We keep watching and it turns out the show is a challenge of sorts. Each bug (man) takes a turn going up on a hydraulic platform and tries to drink milk through a thin rubber tube. The tube is clear, so there's an arrow on the screen showing us the progress being made. And here's the kicker: the platform is at 6m, 30cm (that's all I could read in the kanji at the bottom of the screen) so these guys are practically passing out because they're having to create so much suction. And when they fail, which the green bug and the orange bug did, these two ladies in pink and black spider costumes come running out, pretend to eat something gross looking, then one of them wrestles the loser bug to the ground and covers his mouth while the other spiderlady places a clear tube over her mouth and the bug's nose, then burps into the end of it and blows it in his face. I kid you not. This was a show over here! And I was dumbfounded enough to watch it! Oh, and while they were switching out who was on the platform, they cut to footage of another guy dressed up like a dung beetle, rolling a giant ball of fake caca with his feet while doing a handstand. But don't worry, they had cut tiny little slits in his headpiece so his eyeglasses could still sit squarely on his face even as he fell down time and time again.

I also watched one crazy commercial that involved a Japanese man dressed up like a stereotypical Mexican (sombrero, cheap blanket poncho, long black mustache) who eats a van full of Japanese people off a sushi-go-round, another that had Jennifer Lopez peddling shampoo and yet another ad with Cameron Diaz pitching either cell phones or a bank (couldn't tell which).

I'm so glad I've gotten a real glimpse into the Japanese culture.

All Things Okinawan

It's fun to have company in town because it makes us get out and enjoy all the things that make Okinawa unique. Today we decided to go to Jusco and look around. I always think the appliance section is interesting and it definitely didn't disappoint. We found a Winnie the Pooh stereo for kids that was pretty funny - the cd player was shaped like Pooh's tree trunk with the controls hidden behind Pooh's front door.The speakers were honey pots and each of Pooh's friends played along with the song on their own instruments, which totally intrigued Wyatt, in turn entertaining all of us.


A couple aisles over, we found the massagers and they do not mess around with these items! Are the Japanese that stressed?! The one I used literally clamped over my shoulder and started pounding on my sore muscles - I thought it felt good but I'm not sure I don't have a bruise tonight. Martha liked the one she tried but Leon kept showing all of us how hot his was getting by burning us with it.


Moving on, we found the blood pressure cuffs. Mind you, these are meant for at-home use. You know, wake up, turn on your Pooh stereo, sit down to massage the knots out of your back and then take your blood pressure. While we all took our turns, Wyatt just waited patiently.


We also toured through the grocery section - and I am now realizing we bought Chu-Hi's that will not be consumed because everyone's going to bed - before heading out to the Okinawa International Carnival on gate 2 street. They had a whole schedule of events, but mostly it was traditional dancing and fair food. There was a giant tug of war planned for this evening but we didn't stick around for that.

We made the most of the beautiful weather and enjoyed our time at the parade before driving to the seawall in time for sunset. From there, we went to Yoshi's for dinner and then topped our evening with Blue Seal ice cream. This was an all-Okinawan day! If Jeff and I would do this for one day every weekend, we wouldn't leave here with any regrets.

Unfortunately for us, Martha and Leon leave tomorrow to start their mainland adventure. Wyatt and I will undoubtedly be bored out of our gourds come Tuesday. Maybe we'll start taking more excursions so he can practice enjoying his carseat...or maybe we'll recover a little and then just wait for the next phonecall telling us someone else is coming to visit :)

Yowzers.

This was a big day. BIG. And tiring. And Wyatt now thinks he's a big boy with a 9pm (or later) bedtime which, unfortunately, means he's just seriously cranky for about 3 hours prior to actually going to sleep. We've just been out and about so much that his schedule is way off. I'm sure he'll bounce back, but for now he's apparently too cool for naps. I also don't think any of this bodes well for our flight home in December - especially the part where he's decided his carseat is evil. Ahhhh, wonderful. Moving on.

Jeff had to work today, so Uncle Leon, Aunt Martha and I started the morning at Hiji Falls which turned out to be a little (lot) more strenuous than I anticipated. As in, we were all totally sweating halfway in. It's approximately 7024 stairs up and down through the jungle. It let Uncle Leon walk among the "flora and fauna" as he requested, and Wyatt really enjoyed it so I guess that's what counts. Check out this happy guy!



Since the hike took twice as long as we thought it would, we went straight to the aquarium upon finishing. It was there that Wyatt continued his nap protest but did, for brief periods, tolerate his stroller (the rest of the time we carried him) and enjoy the big fish. He was mesmerized.



We finished up on the grounds of the aquarium and that's where Wyatt finally fell asleep - completely mid-struggle. He slept just like this for about a half hour. The Japanese kept looking at him and saying, "kowaii!" and then laughing and gesturing about him sleeping arched on his side.



From there it was on to Pizza in the Sky for dinner (sorry, no pictures because our batteries were out) and then we poured ourselves into the car to come home. We're all wiped out (except maybe Jeff) and we're off to bed so we can do it again tomorrow :)

I'm Losing My Skills

Well, Leon and Martha are here and we're having a great time, but I'm not the tour guide I used to be. So far I've taken us to the Peace Prayer museum 30 minutes prior to closing, tried to take us to Oriental Place 5 minutes before closing and have dragged them over to the Foster PX to look for something that definitely wasn't there. Hopefully I can redeem myself tomorrow. We have the aggressive goal of going to Hiji Falls, the aquarium, Pizza in the Sky and the pineapple factory. Think it'll work? We'll let you know :)

Wyatt is being a trouper. He didn't get to bed last night until 9 because we kept thinking that he would, of course, fall asleep in his carseat. But no. He was wide awake during our dinner at Ono Kau Kau and through our after-dinner treats at Starbucks. Oops. He didn't seem any worse for the wear. Today we did the standard squadron/jet tour (where Wyatt wore the earmuff style headset and completely zoned out in his baby bjorn) and then hit our first 100 yen. Fun!

We had a lovely dinner at home tonight and now we're sharing long-lost family stories - way fun! And we're wondering what's going on in Annapolis (since Sarah and I did the big parent swap this week). Hopefully we'll have some pictures to share after tomorrow's big adventure :)