Just look what popped out of the oven!!

A lot going on

2009-04-01T19:46:00.007-04:00

I have a whole bunch of pictures to share with ya'll. First thing is Arica's new bedroom. While it isn't completely finished; it is done enough for her to sleep in it. I still have to switch out the outlets to child proof ones. Heather and I haven't started painting her growth tree. But here is a couple of pictures.

Johnathan has finally cut down the tree in the front yard. Now I'm just waiting for him to replace it with another one. The tree was rotting from the inside. Here is a couple of pictures to help you realize how messed up my wonderful husband can be.
I finally reported to the ship. I have a lot of junior guys that need to be babysat all the time. And babysitting adults is the worst. Other than that, it is going pretty good. Johnathan has a 33% chance of going IA; they are looking for a Cuba billet to get filled. It pays really well, and all of the hard core prisoners are already been transferred to the states. I really don't care if he goes or not as long as I'm still in the ship yards. Or his Master Chief was wondering how long I have in the ship yards, for him to go TAD to another ship for a while. That wouldn't be too bad either. He will get extra money and benefits for advancement, but it will be more time away from us.
Well, I need to get some sleep. 0400 comes by fast.

Phone Calls Home

2009-03-13T17:50:00.007-04:00

March 13, 2009

You should have been here to see this.
This is a picture of Arica walking around
the house with the cell phone talking.
Arica talks to mommy almost everyday.
She does not like to talk on the house
phone as much as the cell phone. She
gets so excited to talk on the cell phone.
We put the phone on speaker so we can
help Arica talk to her mommy and daddy.
I tell her mommy is on the phone and
she takes it and puts it up to her ear.
Sometimes her chin touches the buttons
and makes beeping noises. Mommy
asked if she was using Morse Code to talk
to her.

Sometimes she would also stand at the
window looking out and jabber away on
the phone. Then she would move to the
next window and keep talking.
It is very hard to get her to give up the
phone. Now when the phone rings, she
thinks it's mommy. She keeps saying
"mommy, mommy." Sometimes I have
to tell her it's not mommy. Sometimes
she reaches up to the house phone and
says, "mommy!" I ask her if she wants
to talk to mommy. She giggles and she
shakes her whole body back n forth.
This means "yes". She gets really excited.
So then we have to try to call mommy!

Written with Love by Grandma

2009-03-13T17:02:00.004-04:00

March 13, 2009

Arica is having a lot of fun in Wisconsin.
Besides playing in the snow, she is being
creative with the kitchen set. She spends
a lot of time playing "in the kitchen!"
One day, she took out the shelves in the
oven and tried to crawl into it herself and
close the door. She tried this a number of
times before giving up. If she would have
taken the shelves out of the refrigerator
next to her, she would have fit inside. Lots
of hours are spent playing with the kitchen
toys.

Arica loves the swing set in the back yard.
Here is a picture of her after she crawled
through the tunnel. Sometimes as she comes
out, Toby, our dog is at the end of the tunnel
to greet her and she giggles. She is wearing a
pair of grandma's warm mittens because it
is too cold here for her little mittens. They
are easier to get on and we can pull then way
up over her jacket sleeves and the don't come off.

She also enjoys the slide and the
swing. The sand in the sandbox
was frozen so we took some of her
toys out one day so she could play
with them in the snow. She was
playing very nicely. She all of a
sudden got distracted. I didn't
notice at first but she climbed upon
the bridge going up to the slide and
then crawled up to the platform. She thought this was pretty cool. Whenever we used the slide, I would lift her up to the top of the slide and then she would slide down. So she has never seen the bridge before. Once on top of the platform, she wanted to slide down the slide head first.
I helped her to sit on her butt and go down the slide.

I want to go out!

2009-03-10T17:49:00.005-04:00

March 10, 2009

This is a typical day for Arica. She is always anxious to go outside. On this perticular day, she got her boots and went to the door. There was no way of convincing her to stay in.
As you can see, we have a lot of snow outside. It has been
fun to go out and play.

Arica had a big day

2009-03-02T23:27:00.001-05:00

Message to Mommy and Daddy and anyone else who cares to listen:

Arica had a big day today.

(Arica's view)
Today started out with grandma washing my pink blanket. At first, while grandma took my pink blanket out of my crib, and carried it down-
stairs, I was so happy! But then she wanted me to put in the washing machine. I didn't like that at all! So we took it back upstairs and put it back in my crib. (When I wasn't looking, grandma sneeked it out of the crib, put it under her shirt, took it downstairs and put into the wash machine.)

Arica went to church with us this morning. We came equipped with snacks, water and toys. We were sure the toys didn't make too much noise. She did very well situated between Uncle Kevin and Grandma. Grandpa was ushering and Aunt Vanessa was singing in the choir. Arica liked the singing and added her own tone to the songs. There was a little girl behind us that had a green rubber alligator. Arica wanted it. I told her that it was the little girls toy. She was pretty good about it. Later the little girl had a small 3 by 4 inch paper book. Arica pointed to it. The girls dad talked to his daughter and then took the book and gave it to Arica. Arica took it and proceeded to give the dad her toy milk bottle that she loves so much. The dad was very surprised and didn't know what to do with it, so he set it down on the chair next to us. Arica looked through the book for awhile and then handed it back to the dad and pointed to her toy milk bottled. He picked it up and gave it to her. When it came to peace, at first she didn't want to do it, but after seeing the other kids behind her giving peace, she wanted to give everyone peace also. She went around at least 2 times and wanted to do more but we needed it end it. It was evident she wasn't going to quit anytime soon.

Grandma and Arica went swimming in the afternoon. Arica loved the water. She didn't mind getting splashed and even when under the water twice.

After all that she was ready for bed shortly after 7pm. But before bed she talked to mom and dad on the phone.

She was so exhausted that she slept till after 8am.

Vehicle issues

2009-01-19T19:19:00.004-05:00

I hate having vehicle issues. It never ends, once one thing gets fix, something else goes wrong with them. Last night Johnathan got into an accident. We are still waiting for damages. Right now we have a rental, it isn't a bad car except for the fact that it is RED.
Arica fell down the stairs again today, it was only 2 steps. But she bit her tongue pretty good. She didn't want to eat dinner at all tonight.
School is going okay, the instructor said that we are 3 weeks behind though. So it will be faster, which means harder. But I know for sure that I'm in the top 5 of the class. I don't know how high, but I would like to at least keep it there if not number 1.
Here is a couple of pictures. I will be bringing all of the picture to WI, when I come up. The first one is our trip to S.C. at a hotel room, and the other is her having fun in the bath tub.

School

2009-01-08T18:43:00.002-05:00

Well, school is going good for the first week. I have 4-5 tests, and 9-10 quizzes. I took my 1st test on Wednesday I wish I would have done better, but I can't complaint about a 98%. I was fair warned that the class is hard and only 50% pass it. I heard that the other class had a Master Chief failed. So, I'm really nervous. On a good note, I know just about everything the instructor is talking about. So I figure the harder stuff will come. But in the mean time I will try to Ace all of my tests and quizzes. Every point counts.
I have lots of pictures of Arica to share. I will hopefully get them put in when I have a little more time. Arica is getting so big. She is taking my schooling considerable well, with my attention else where. I still have plenty more of homework waiting for me, unfortunately 2 hours isn't enough.

Christmas

2008-12-27T08:12:00.002-05:00

The Christmas holiday didn't go exactly as planned, but it worked. We opened up gifts Christmas eve morning. It took Arica several hours to open, and she didn't even finish them all. She needed a couple of breaks in between them all. Since Tam had duty, Heather and I and the girls were all going to church that evening. Johnathan went fishing with Moore for a couple of hours, because he didn't want to go to Church. ( I'm not going to make him.) I got to Heather's place around 1430. We finished the preps for tomorrow. And the girls took a nap. We found out the times for church and there was no services after 1730. The girls didn't get up from there nap til 1700. And there was no way to get 5 people ready for church and drive there in 30 minutes. Unfortunately we didn't make it. Then to make things worse, no one had services on Christmas day. We ate dinner, and Heather and I went to feed the horses while Mary (Heather's mom) stayed and watched the girls. Shortly after we got back Johnathan showed up. He talked his way out of duty, Christmas day. But we still spent it with Tam and Heather. We all stayed up late playing cards. I had to get up and go to work in the morning. Friday night, Arica finished opening her gifts. I'm back at work now, again. I will get Monday and Tuesday off. Let me get back to work. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year's. Thank you for the gifts.

Mommy's little helper

2008-12-19T06:47:00.002-05:00

On Monday, 15th, Arica decided that she wanted to help me empty out the dish washer. I grapped the silverware, and she held up a plate saying mommy, mommy. She still doesn't understand the consept of loading the dirty dishes up, but that's okay. We made cookies over the week. She helped put the ingredients in the bowl, rolled them in sugar and added the sprinkles. She is growing up so fast. Today, she needs to go for her second flu shot, we have to get a dependant ID card made, and update mine. I'm setting a bank account for her went she goes to Grandma's house. Then, we get to send all the Christmas gifts out. It will be a busy day, but at least I get to spend it with Arica. Saturday, Heather and her two girls and Arica and I are going to Bass Pro Shop to get a picture with Santa for free. Got to go to work.

Busy

2008-11-16T17:41:00.003-05:00

I actually got a day off on the 11th. So Arica and I spent the day together. I had to go up town for the normal odd and end items. While we were up town Arica got her 1st haircut. I don't care for it, but at least her hair is out of her eyes., since that was the purpose for it. Lately, she hasn't been taking her nap. She gets extremely cranky, but going to bed earlier.
My replacement for work has shown up. It is wonderful, especially since we weren't expecting to get a replacement for 2 out of the 3 of us. I'm still hoping that I am able to get fit for sea duty. I miss being underway, but I know that I will miss Arica even more when I'm gone. Yes, I will miss Johnathan too, but I think the break away from each other will do us some good. I know that our problems will be waiting here for us when I get back, but I'm hoping that it will give both of us a chance to think and look from a different perspective of everything. I really do love him. I'm just not sure if I can live with him. The ship starts deployment 7 months before mom's birthday. I don't report to the ship until the end of the following month, so I probable won't get flown out til the next month sometime. I don't want to leave Arica, but I know that it is my duty. I'm just worried what is going to happen while I'm gone.
I'm planning a big Thanksgiving this year. We are opening our house up to those people who don't have anywhere else to go and get a really homecooked dinner. We have done it the past couple of years and I enjoy the cooking of it all. This year I'm going to try some new receipies, I hope it all turns out but if not at least one item will.
Here is another picture of what grandma got Arica for her birthday. I have some unifroms waiting for me to get ironed. I will try to write again soon.

Things don't look any better

2008-10-26T08:48:00.002-04:00

Well, got back from AR in one piece to a dirty house!! Tam and Heather helped us process 2 deer that we brought back with us on Sunday. Between 3 unsupervised kids the living room and the play room was destroyed. The 4 of us adults destroyed the kitchen and dining room with meat. We had 2 of us cutting, 2 grinders going, 1 slicer, 3 dehydrators, and 2 vacuums sealing machines going. It was crazy! Going back to work was just awful. Chief told me that I almost go fired on my off day. Oh well. I will still get my same pay check just with less stress. But I didn't. On Tuesday Johnathan was sick. Wednesday he went fishing, Thursday duty and Friday and Saturday hunting. So for the most part it was just Arica and I. Arica and I walk to the grocery store on Tuesday since Johnathan was sick. It was about 2 miles there. It was alot worst going back. Wednesday I got Johnathan off of work early, because my truck broke down at the bank when I was making a deposit for work. Saturday Heather and her 2 girls and us were going to go to the pumpkin patch but she was sick. So it gave me a chance to catch up on some house work.

Medical for me is another story all together. My thyroid results came back as hypo. On meds for that now. All of my other vitamins except D were really good. So I'm taking D- supplements. Doc's put me back on light limited duty, the one wanted me to go Limdu all together. But the Limdu doc wanted to wait until surgery got done. But last I knew, they didn't want to do surgery because I was so young. PRT I'm waived on my run and situps. I still have to pass weight ins and push ups. I'm not worried about my 15 push ups that I need in order to pass. It will be my weight. I don't think I will be able to do it. Johnathan failed his PRT also. I'm not happy with him for that one. But oh well. It is his own fault.

That is my boring life. Let me get back to Arica before she gets into something that she isn't suppose to.

Vacation

2008-10-08T16:06:00.002-04:00

Well, vacation isn't going to bad. His mother isn't having surgery for a couple more years. He has gotten to do a good bit of hunting since we have been down. Haven't got anything though. His truck is in the shop, we had problems getting down here. First, before we even left the house the driver side seat belt wasn't working, then he fixed that and on the way in the garage to put the tools away (for once) he spilt a 5 gallon bucket of motor oil over on the floor. He put dirt around to stop it from spreading and a buddy of his was going to clean it up for us sicne we were running later than what we wanted. Johnathan had to take another shower. We finally hit the road. Around TN area the truck started acting up. It was burning oil and miss firing. So we changed the air filter and the spark plugs and still nothing. We took it in. Well I have to go now. Hunting is calling us. But quickly before I go, just though I would let you all know that Arica has the Chicken poxs. It Sucks!!! Pictures when we get back.

She is on her way!!

2008-08-15T12:38:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, Mary,a friend, watched Arica while our normal sitter is on vacation. She said that Arica walked on her own. She only saw it out of the corner of her eye, so she wasn't quite sure. Later that evening after dinner, Arica was getting fussy and so Heather took her for a little while and Arica just walked back to me all by herself. I was so exited that Heather and I got Arica walked about 4 feet to and from us. I know that she is on her way to getting in trouble. Trouble gets more and more after this point. I'm so very happy for her. I will try to get a picture to add in later.

Orders

2008-07-19T10:05:00.002-04:00

Well, we finally decided on orders. They aren't going to sent us to the west coast. I got to pick, but Johnathan was just told. I'm going to DDG 58 Laboon. I don't know much about it, but it will be the second best career choice. Of course the best career choice is Iraq, but Arica and Johnathan are more important than my career. Johnathan was told that he is going to NAS Oceana. He is going to call his detailer on Monday to try and get it changed to Frenfield Air Strip. It is still going to be the same distance as Oceana, but the traffic is going to be better. He won't have to sit and wait to go threw the tunnel.
Arica is still growing. Her new thing lately is opening and closing doors. She can't turn the knobs yet (Thank Lord), but she just pushes them back and forth. It is getting harder and harder to change her diaper. She never wants to stay still.

Third time is a charm

2008-07-07T15:35:00.003-04:00

We went camping this weekend up in Lynchburg, VA. We had a wedding on Saturday. This was Arica's third time that we have tried. First one was at the hunt club when she was about 3 months, I ended up taking her home during the middle of the night. The next attemp was when she was about 5 months, out on the lake. I went home with her then too. So this time there was no going home. I can settle for driving 1 hour home with her, but not no 4 hours.
It took her a while to go to sleep, but once she did, she slept like a little baby taking up majority or the tent to herself. It rained every night, but not during the day so it was over all a good weekend. The rain cooled it off quite a bit. Arica enjoyed playing in the rain and sleeping in it.
We went swimming, rode on the ATV, and ate. Arica got a cupcake all over me and her. It was funny. She had no interest in eatting it, just making a mess. I wish I got a picture of it. But I got a pretty good on of her helping herself to some zuchini bread for breakfast in the rain.

Good news and somewhat good news

2008-06-30T19:54:00.003-04:00

First off, the good news. I finished putting my bookshelf together and stained. My office is almost finished getting clean, well at least good enough for a picture. I'm still missing a good number of books on it. But anyways, it is 6 by 4 by 1, for someone who doesn't like to read it is big enough. Not to mention that Arica has her own book shelf in her room for all of her books.
I think she has finally starting to understand what the word "no" means. She hears it an awful lot. But considering that she is almost 9 months, she follows directions pretty good, except for the stairs. The stairs are her favorite new thing. She was taking a nap earlier this afternoon and Johnathan went outside to work in the garden and came to check on her every couple of minutes. She wasn't there. She moved the gate from the bottom of the stairs and climbed all the way up(23). Arica was just perfectly content playing by herself in the office.
On the somewhat good news ( I think), I had my follow-up doctor's appointment today for my back. Well, after a couple of weeks in physical therapy and a couple of weeks with a heel lift, the doc told me that he doesn't know what is wrong. So he is referring my to Portsmouth Hospital (the major hospital in the area) for possible injections. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not. The injections might make the pain go away, but it doesn't solve the problem. I would rather know what is wrong and fix it the correct way. Drugs can only go so far.
From my knowledge the people who I know with back pain and are getting injections are all on their way out the door or have already been processed out. I'm not sure if getting out is the right thing to do. I really don't know if I want to go back to sea duty and leave Arica here, but I have a guaranty of a job, unlike the outside market. Yeah, I could possibly still be getting my pay check, but in a way it doesn't seem fair.
I have a long way to go before all of this happens, so there is no point in worrying myself with it now. I have enough things I'm stressed about that their is no reason for it. Besides, I can't do anything about it, so I'm going to leave it in God's hands. He has the plan, not me.

Getting more and more intelligent by the day

2008-06-27T16:33:00.005-04:00

Well, I caught Arica getting into trouble yesterday. First it was climbing in the dishwasher. I knew that she enjoyed helping me empty it out, whether it was clean or not. It was nice to have someone give me a helping hand or two. Even if it did make more of a mess. Then Johnathan and I were up starts and she wanted to join us. She got to the 3rd step before either of us realized it. I didn't think she was suppose to grow up this fast. I figured it would be a couple more months at least. I guess she is going to try and take after her Aunt Becki (intelligent), and mommy and daddy (trouble makers). As long as she has the intelligence to stay out of the serious trouble, i.e. jail time, we will be okay.

Just missed orders again.

2008-06-25T06:16:00.002-04:00

Well, orders have closed for the month. They weren't to good (for Johnathan or myself) anyways. I'm hoping that July's orders are better. I found a sea duty billet which wouldn't be too bad, but it was too late to negociate with the detailer. Besides, Johnathan didn't know what he wanted. I don't know if I really want to go back to sea duty, don't get me wrong I enjoyed sea duty, but with Arica it makes it alot harder of a decision. I don't have any problems leaving Johnathan for 6 months, just my little baby girl. Also, I just don't quiet understand what is going threw Johnathan's head, he wants to go to Iraq. There is benefits to going, but I don't think they out weigh the negative. Well, I better start my work day. There is a lot to do, in such little time.

A peaceful day for once!

2008-06-19T19:23:00.002-04:00

Today has been different. Johnathan has duty, I got frocked to 1st , and Arica is in her bed asleep already. I know that she won't she for very long before she is up, but I wanted to get on right away since I have a little bit of time to myself. This is very hard to find now a days. Someone always needs something. Hopefully I will be able to get a 30 minutes nap in as well, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. Anyways, here is another fairly recent picture. Arica loves playing in the bath water.

More about Arica's sick days

2008-06-16T17:22:00.003-04:00

I can't figure out how to put another picture in the middle of my text. But during Arica's sick days she still found ways to get herself into trouble, but also get daddy trouble, when he isn't even around. She figured out how to open and getting into daddy's guns and hunting stuff. When he told mommy that he didn't want child proof on it since he could lock it. That was fine with me until Arica got her hand into all of it, because daddy didn't lock it up. Well, that is how our week end went thanks for all the help and late night/early phone calls.

Mommy's sick litlle girl

2008-06-16T16:51:00.004-04:00

Well, it is now Monday. Arica has been fussy for Tonya, babysitter, all day. The picture was taken on Sunday, when I wasn't able to put her down to go to sleep without having to cry. The doc diagnosised her with Herpangina. She has her moments when I think she is feeling just fine, but then there are others when I diffently know that she still feels miserable. The weekend was long and tiring for us. Johnathan was lucky that he had duty on Friday and went fishing on Sunday night. He missed half of it. But I know that Friday he would have came home if I needed him too. The biggest problem was that I dropped him off at work, so I would have had to go and pick him up. So in all reality he wouldn't have been much help, just like a typical guy.
I find it funny know completely reading the handout the doc gave to us on Friday morning that states: "You should bring your child to the emergency department immediately if any of the following occur: dry sticky mouth, doesn't urine for 6 or more hours, doesn't have tears when crying, sunken soft spot on your child's head, less responsive than normal, has difficulty breathing or swallowing, worsening symptoms or if your child is not improving or if your child is acting sicker at any time." Now looking back on it. The doc was the knuckle head when she was wondering why I was back. Arica's condition worsen!! I was just doing what the instructions on the paperwork that she gave to me said too.

I hope this works!

2008-06-10T17:52:00.003-04:00

I appreciate that Becki set this all up. Hopefully this will help keep my phone bill down some, not that I don't want to keep in touch through a phone. I also hope that this will have some important people in our families lives not left out. Johnathan is in the shipyards now and Arica, since it is all about her, is getting very big and intelligent. This is the most recent picture of her I have on the computer. It was in taken in the middle of February. Well, I have to call it quits early. Arica decided that she wanted to try some wine a little on the early side and broke a bottle.

Post Number 1

2008-06-09T22:19:00.000-04:00

Okay...I admit I started this blog so I could see more pictures of my only neice. But I'm going to turn it over to Tabitha now. So if you are missing the lastest updates on whatever trouble Arica's gotten it. Complain to Tabitha, not me!! I've got many other complaints to handle. And since I don't have a picture of Arica to start this off with, I'll just post the one where all the trouble began...

-Becki