Laughs and Discoveries

In this first video Grace is being a little giggle box!

And in the video she is discovering a new toy - her Jumperoo. She has played in this just a few times but this is the first time with music and lights. We thought it was broken (we bought it used) but I decided to try new batteries and ta-da.. it works!

Fun in the Sun

Long weekend and nice weather... the perfect time to go to the pool! We took Grace to the pool twice this weekend. On Saturday we went to Plaza Housing pool and spent our time in the baby pool that was only 18 inches deep. And today we went to the pool on Foster which is a bigger pool. Grace got to ride around in her new float, which she almost fell asleep in! She had a good time, got very wet, and made lots of splashes!! Grace can float on her back (of course I never let go of her!) and kick her legs. She is definitely not afraid of the water and doesn't mind getting dunked under.

She looks pretty adorable in her hat and sunglasses.

New Toys!

I got my Tupperware stuff in the mail this last week so we have been organizing our pantry. It looks really good!! We lined all the shelves and found containers for almost everything so no more loose packets of gravy mix or lemonade laying around. Grace was also very excited about the Tupperware package. There was a special toy in it for her. She just had to have this classic shape sorter!

And we bought her a new pool. The pool she has been using got a hole in the bottom. I guess we need a tarp to put under the pool to keep that from happening to the new pool. I think she likes this one better though and who would have guessed this pool was the cheapest at the BX? We put it in our living room and let her play in it!

Grace loves to PLAY!

Random Pictures

I haven't posted anything new all week. Honestly, not a lot has been going on. Dustin has been working reverse cycle. That means he leaves for PT around 4:30pm and then comes home for dinner and goes to work about the time I put Grace to bed and then sometime before we wake up he sneaks into bed. That plus all the meetings he has during the week. I think I actually prefer this schedule because we have been able to go on several drives during the week. When he comes home around 6pm on the normal day it is too late to go anywhere and still eat dinner and get Grace to bed at a decent time. We went to the beach on Friday and we let her play in her little pool on Saturday. She loves being outside when the weather is nice and when she is in the shade. I ordered her some cute little sunglasses online and can't wait to let her try them on! We drove out to the lighthouse one day and then we drove to see the dam another day. Both were pretty interesting but we forgot the camera both times. We hadn't planned on going when we did but it just so happened Grace was sleeping in her car seat and we didn't want to disturb her by getting her out of the car so we just drove! She needs all the rest she can get so she can start to feel better. She has been sick all week. Fever on Monday and Tuesday then we thought she was better only to have her very fussy at bedtime on Thursday and Friday so we went to the ER because we suspected an ear infection and sure enough, we were right. Now she has her medicine and should be feeling much better soon!

Here are some pictures from the week!

Enjoying our new patio furniture

Grace likes to read her books all by herself now :-)

Looking at the flag hanging on our house

This is a random "road" we ended up on while driving to the beach. Notice how my car is wider than the road! And this is on the little Army post here.

Ready to go to the beach!

Relaxing after dinner

The Past Week

On Tuesday, Grace and I went to the Dragon Boat Races with our friends Kelly and Maggie. This was a big Japanese festival and was a first for us. It was Golden Week for the Japanese. There were several American teams in the races (Army Women, Army Men). I was shocked to see the open-air porta potty's for men! CRAZY!! I got too busy making sure I had the stroller loaded with all of the essentials - diapers, wipes, changing pad, extra outfit, paci's, toys, sunscreen - that I forgot to take the camera out of the car. The rest of the week was just the normal stuff. And then on Saturday was the Mother/Daughter tea. I, again, forgot the camera! Thankfully, Kelly was kind enough to take a couple pictures and share them with us so I have something to show from our week. This week hasn't been the best so far. I am trying to get over a cold and now Grace is running a little fever. Hopefully she will be feeling much better tomorrow!

Mother/Daughter Tea

At the Dragon Boat Races

I think this is the Army women's team closet to us, then the single Marines in the middle, then the Navy women's team at the very far end.

I think these are Japanese teams

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Yesterday, Grace and I went to a Mother/Daughter tea with a lot of ladies from church. I was looking through Grace's closet to find the perfect dress for her and this is what I decided on:

Grace is wearing my Polly Fender dress

Here I am at 13 months in the same dress

And here is a picture of us before church today

And Happy Mother's Day to my Mom!!! Thank you for always being there for us. I know that no matter what, you are only a phone call away. Wish we could all be there!!

Today is just a lazy Sunday--after Church we came back to give Grace a nap and some lunch. For lunch we had pasta with creamy red sauce (Heather's favorite dish to make). Other than that, Dustin starts reverse cycle training Monday, which means that he will work at night and go to the field and then come home and sleep during the day. Might give us more time during the day to go fix the sqeal that the minivan makes everytime you use the A/C. Anyway, Happy Mother's Day to all our mothers, grandmothers, friends, etc.

Love,

Dustin, Heather, and Grace!

Furniture and Phones

A couple weeks ago we went to a home store off-base looking for a shelf to put downstairs for Grace's books and movies (she has a few movies already but we don't let her watch them yet). We ended up getting a big bookshelf and putting all of her toys on it. About 2 weeks later we were given a living room set (sofa, loveseat, coffee table, and 2 end tables) so for a day we had a living room full of furniture. Dustin was able to get some help and loaded the government sofa and the 2 government end tables into the back of my van and took those back so we were finally able to arrange the furniture. I think our living room looks a lot less cluttered now even tough we have more/bigger furniture. I would have even considered buying something similar to this set when we get back to the states but now we won't have to worry about furnishing our living room!

Ok, so want to hear how the phones work into this subject? Well, in the middle of getting a truck to move this furniture and then helping the person we got it it from pick up and move his new furniture into his house, Dustin lost his cell phone. When he called it a Japanese guy answered and said it was at the service station (where he got the truck) So when he took the truck back and got his phone the screen was cracked. So on Monday he took his phone into the shop where we got it so they could send it in to be fixed. In the meantime he has a loaner phone. His phone should come back as good as new next week and there shouldn't be a charge! The same thing happened to my phone last fall (well, I didn't lose it at the service station but the screen cracked) and we didn't have to pay for mine either. I am so glad we paid the extra for insurance!

And, of course, no post would be complete without a picture of our beautiful little girl :-) Grace will be 5 months old on Sunday (Mother's Day). At her 4 month check-up that was 2 weeks ago she weighed 14 lbs. 4 oz. and was 24 1/4" long!

Tupperware Party!

I am hosting a tupperware party tomorrow night!! I am hoping to get some free/discounted products so I can organize my pantry. I am really tired of having a overly full pantry and then opening the door to get something out and having the powdered sugar fall in the floor. Ok, so that only happened once but who likes bags of sugar, chocolate chips, and pasta in their pantry? Not me!!

Masterpiece

Grace got to finger paint tonight. Here she is showing off her masterpiece! Now I have some of her art to hang on our refrigerator.