One of those weeks...

Spoke to soon... Leyton keeps getting out of her big girl bed during naps.  Despite spending 2 hours running at the beach, she wouldn't stay in her bed and nap today.  Yesterday I went in there twice and put her back in and sat with her and she finally went to sleep.  Today no luck.  So I told her that I was going to turn it back into a crib.  I pulled out all the materials.  She offered to help.  I ordered a video monitor a few minutes ago.  Hopefully I can blow her mind with my new psychic abilities... after Thursday when my monitor arrives that is.

In order to entice Leyton to use the potty, we were giving her 2 M&Ms every time she went.  She quickly got the hang of it and was soon eating a half a bag of M&Ms a day.  So we started cutting back on the treats.  After WEEKS of no pee pee accidents, she's now had 3 in as many days.  Today she got a Cransin for going potty.

In other news, Panda has Type II Diabetes and now needs a special diet and two insulin shots a day.  But no worries.  She is otherwise healthy and should live a long and expensive life.

I will write more about our sweet Ellis and her 9 month check-up.. as soon as I have the time.. maybe next week when Grammy and Papa come to visit.

Girls Only!

Daddy has been away at sea for a week, and BOY, do we miss him!  I normally go to the gym in the morning before the girls get up, and I can't do that when Ryan is gone.  Or I suppose I could... they are sleeping after all, but I think leaving kids home alone is generally frowned upon.  So, I don't workout when Ryan is gone, which makes me cranky.  I always TRY, I go for runs and do stuff here and there, but I am spoiled by the gym and nothing else really does it for me.  But I do still need to get up and take the dog out and drink coffee before the chaos ensues each day.  Ellis wakes up first.  She is always a cheerful baby in the morning.  Actually, she is always cheerful all day unless she is hungry or tired or stuck (more on getting stuck in a bit).  Then Leyton gets up.  She is less cheery in the morning.  But after some snuggles and letting her watch a show on the kindle while she goes potty, she usually cheers up and we start our day.

Leyton is now 95% potty trained.  She wears panties all day, even when we leave the house.  She only wears a diaper for nap and bedtime, although those are usually still dry when she wakes up.  She has got #1 down pat, no problems.  #2 is another story.  Half the time she poops in the potty, and half the time somewhere else (like her diaper, panties, or the BATHTUB!)  Now I am trying to get her off the rewards that she is used to getting after every potty.  I've got her down to one M&M instead of two, and often I can distract her so she forgets.

The big girl bed is going great.  Leyton still really likes it.  She has only gotten out once for a nap a couple of days ago, otherwise she stays in there until we come in and tell her she can get out.  This AMAZES me.  She is not what I could call a very compliant child.  Just because I tell her to do something certainly does not guarantee she will do it.  In fact, I use reverse psychology on her often.  For example, if I want her to wash her hands and she says no, then I tell her 'Okay, Mommy will wash her hands by herself' and she comes running.  And anytime we need to go somewhere and I tell her to get in the car or stroller, I have to say I'm leaving without her before she will get in.  So I don't know why she stays in her big girl bed.  Maybe because I told her we would turn it back into a crib if she didn't.  Maybe she's starting to learn that Mommy don't play... I threw away one of her toys the other day because she refused to pick it up.

Now that her speech is better, we are finding out just how smart our Leyton is.  When counting, she says 1, 2, 3 in English, and then switches to Spanish for 4 to 10 (Thanks Dora!).  She can sing the ABC song, she is learning bible verses, and she can remember things that happened months ago.  She is also very whiny and dramatic, which I'm not sure is due to her age or her personality.  She is getting better with her sister, but still not a big fan of sharing.

Ellis still isn't crawling but she is still very close.  Still any day now.  She loves to stand now leaning against a toy or wall for balance.  Still a great eater and sleeper.  Still adorable.

Thank you to Poppy and BB for the 'pretty dresses.'  I ask LC what she wants to every day and EVERY day she says 'a pretty dress.'  So my little princess dresses the part daily.

LC's crazy hair

Leyton is also still wearing her Halloween shirt.  She and Ellis share pants now because Leyton is so skinny and Ellis... not so much :-)

Pictures from Ellis' window licking morning

I am pretending that this window was clean before she started licking it.  

Side note:  Blue is definitely her color

Howdy!

Hey Mom, You Missed a Spot....

Me Not a Baby Anymore, Me a Big Girl Now...

Our little girls are growing up fast.  Ellis is now eight months old.  And Leyton is now sleeping in her big girl bed!  We decided that because we had a long weekend, now was as good a time as any to switch Leyton's crib to a toddler bed.  So after her nap on Friday, we asked if she wanted to sleep in a big girl bed and she was VERY excited about the idea.  She couldn't wait to climb in and she played in it all night, bringing her toys back to show them her new digs.  We were of course concerned that she wouldn't stay in her new bed, so we told her that if she got out, that we would have to make it a crib again.  And it worked!  She slept all night in her new bed.  The following day's nap didn't go quite as easy, but eventually she drifted off, and night two was as easy as the first.  Leyton was very serious as she announced "Me not a baby anymore, me a big girl now."  And Mommy nearly cried.

Leyton decided to dress her sister up one day -complete with necklace, tiara and fairy dress

Hmm... I love it

Leyton kept things simple with a lovely blue beaded headdress

Love those baby blues!

Nana made Ellis a beautiful sweater, which she is modeling here

Here is the big girl trying out the new bed

I forgot to take 7 month photos with the sticker on.  Oh well.  I forgot 3 months too.

Happy Memorial Day and a huge thank you to our past and present military!

Happy Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day with my sweet family.  The girls gave me a lovely card and both made me a hand-print card at church.  My favorite part though was a well practiced "Happy Modder's Day, Mommy" from my Leyton, complete with a large huge and kiss.  In fact, she STILL tells me that several times a day.  She can be so sweet when she wants to be.  

Another great gift from my eldest is potty training.  She is doing awesome.  With peeing in the potty anyway.  As long as we ask her, she will go potty.  We have yet to brave an outing sans diaper, but soon I think we will be ready.  I owe a big thanks to Grammy and My Little Pony.  Grammy sent her some MLP panties, and she LOVES wearing them and keeping Apple Jack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Flutter Shy and Princess Celestia clean and dry (she doesn't have MLP Twilight panties).  So our only problem now is going #2.  

Leyton has also FINALLY started her speech therapy.  She goes to class on Monday and Friday and she really seems to enjoy it.  Her vocabulary and sentence structure continues to improve, however it is still her pronuncitation that needs some work.  

Ellis is days away from crawling.  Every day I watch her get closer and closer.  She will walk out onto her hands and knees and rock back and forth.  And then her big sister will be having a FIT as Ellis goes for all the 'off-limits' toys.  Although, to be fair, I have seen Leyton be really sweet to her sister lately.. not all the time.... or even most of the time.. but she has it in her.

Here is LC on a 'not-so-sweet' moment.  I tried fixing her hair in pig-tails because normally her hair is completely out of control.  She often looks like Albert Einstein. 

Ellis being her generally, though not always, sweet self

Big thanks for Gramma (Ga) and Grampa for the beautiful spring dresses.  Leyton's happened to match one that she wore around her first birthday... which of course fits our 8 month old perfectly now

They wore their matching dresses on Mother's Day.  Wouldn't trade these two for ANYTHING!

Life at Sea

I had the opportunity to go to sea for a few days on the USS RONALD REAGAN. The Reagan is the ship our airwing (CVW-2) is attached to. The ship was getting underway for Carrier Qualifications (CQ) for squadrons in our airwing and for brand new pilots out of their perspective Fleet Replacement Squadrons. For me it was my first time being on a carrier with the airwing onboard. I have been to the carrier on both of my previous deployments as a transient helicopter delivering people/cargo/mail, etc. I also did about 10 days on board the USS HARRY S. TRUMAN for Hurricane Katrina Ops back in 2005. During the Katrina events, there was only helicopters onboard so it was slightly different. So this was my first true experience to the "carrier life." The aircraft carriers are enormous. These pictures really dont do it justice. Before we left the pier I visited the ship to try and get my bearings, drop off some things in my room and get take care of some business. A trip that I figured would take 30 minutes turned into a 2 hour ordeal. 

It really was a great experience. I was able to fly a lot and visit a lot of the places around the boat. The food onboard was really really good. Definitely different then my two previous cruises on the "smaller" ships. Here are a few photos:

 As soon as we pulled out of San Diego they ran through some drills and set up the aircraft barrier. This is used in emergencies to recover a jet if they had a broken landing gear or arresting hook.

 It felt a little weird to be out at sea again. Quite a difference from my first two cruises. I rarely felt the ship rock or move from a wave. It was pretty stable and moved quite fast!

 Our airwing has two helo squadrons. HSC-4 and us. We both broth contigents for this underway period. When the helos are not flying they are put in the "stuff" which is right next to the superstructure.  They fold them up and wheel them here until they are needed. As you can see it is quite cramped. Right behind them is the landing area with the arresting wires used to catch the jets.

 Here is one of the jets landing onboard. It was pretty unreal to see in real life. 

 This was the before one of my flights. 

This is the Ready Room which is the place where we brief for missions and hang out when we are not flying. These three knuckleheads are 3 of my junior pilots.

 This was us making our first landing on the Reagan.

 Taking off for a mission. 

 I had to come home early because I was involved in an operational test and evaluation for a new Anti submarine torpedo. The Navy is in the process of upgrading the brains of the Mk54 torpedo and had 7 for us to drop. I dropped the first one. The drop was right on target but the torp never acquired. Actually, all 7 of 7 torps ever acquired the intended target.

 This was the target that was towed out for us to drop on. It was simulating a contact being near the surface.

After the drop, we refuled and came back home. Overall a pretty cool event. I have previosuly dropped 2 other torpedos but none of them would run up. They would just float to the surface. This one was a live torpedo that ran and searched for a contact. Unfortunately, it never acquired. 

Silly Sisters

I love this video for several reasons.  First, it shows just how much of their Daddy they have in them.  If Ryan is anything, he's silly.  Second, it is a rare sweet moment between the girls.  Ellis LOVES Leyton, but the sentiment is rarely returned.  Finally, how stinking cute are they!?  I plan to watch this video over and over when they are being 'less cute' just so I can remember that they do have it in them.