He can walk!!!

I can't believe it! My baby can walk! Sure he only took like three steps before falling but it's a start. Hubby stood him up and let go and he walked (okay, waddled) to me. It was the most adorable thing ever! We worked with him throughout the day and he's gotten much better. Hopefully in a few weeks he'll be waddling around fairly well. I know most people will tell you that you don't want your kid to be able to walk that they'll cause all sorts of trouble walking. Well, I don't care. I don't see how he'll cause any more problems than what he's already managed to do. I've been waiting for this day since he was born. Maybe because I know that with him walking I'll never be bored again. So, once again.... My baby can walk!!!

In Need of a Good Laugh?

I couldn't stop laughing when I read this!!!

Cynical Santa

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

You Can't Take Me Anywhere!

Sunday we took a tour into Tokyo that consisted of brunch at the New Sanno (yummy!) and then to the Hagoita Festival in Asakusa. Basically it's a bunch of booths selling decorated Japanese badminton paddles as New Year decorations.

While we were there Crazy made a bunch of friends and had his picture taken more times by strangers than by us.

Overall we had a good time until the bus ride back. I have a tendency to get carsick when I get even the littlest bit warm. Well, you guessed it, the bus was warm. So I'm praying that I can make it home without throwing up when I hear Hubby go, "Uh oh, that's not good." Crazy's diaper leaked and it wasn't pretty. Hubby was holding him in his lap and watched it soak through his clothes. I made it to our van but made the mistake of trying to put Crazy in his car seat. WOW!!!! He smelled sooo horrible that I almost vomited right there. Luckily I made it into the house before throwing up. You know what the worst part was though? As I'm heaving my guts out Hubby's standing next to me holding Crazy who is LAUGHING at me, I mean full belly LAUGHING!!! I, of course was the only one who did not find it funny. I was the one laughing a few minutes later though when we were changing Crazy and found out he had a terrible case of diarrhea, because Hubby was left to deal with that while I played the sick card.

Monday morning found us hitting the road for Yokosuka for my catscan appointment. That's right, I finally went! Basically I had to lie on a table with my head in a snug brace while the table moved back and forth inside a enormous blue doughnut. So I was hungry when I went to the appointment, but it did resemble one. The technician let me look at the pictures of my brain afterward. It was confirmed folks, I have a large genius brain, no doubt about it! Seriously though, my doctor hasn't contacted me about the scan which is a good thing, no news is good news in this case.

After my head checkup we drove into Tokyo to the New Sanno. We had a room for the night, a babysitter, and dinner reservations at Legato's. We arrived at the restaurant without getting lost, were given a great booth (crushed velvet, can't beat that), and ordered drinks. That's where it all went downhill. I started getting hot and nauseous. As soon as the food arrived at the table I was headed to the bathroom to get some fresh air, leaving Hubby to get the check and my dinner wrapped up to go. As soon as we explained to the kind Japanese waiter that nothing was wrong with the food or service I was just sick, we headed back to the hotel. I made it to the first train station before I smelled fish which sent me over the edge. Next thing I know Hubby's running to buy us train tickets so I can throw up in a bathroom (we couldn't find one outside of the train station). I had to wait in line to throw up, how dignified right? Well that all went out the window when I found myself vomiting into a Japanese toilet. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's basically a urinal they put into the ground. There is no dignified way to vomit into a Japanese toilet. Hubby had to drag me onto the trains and through the different stations. We finally made it to our last stop and had just emerged from the station when I'm rushing to the edge of the building to vomit again. That's right, I was throwing up next to a building dressed in a nice dress and the sexiest heels you've ever seen. Just when you think things can't get any worse we realize that I picked a spot 6ft away from a construction crew to heave my guts up. Hubby had to stand next to me to block their view. Leave it to the Japanese to be hard at work at 9pm. The rest of the night was spent in the hotel room vomiting every hour or two. We packed up and left first thing the next morning only to arrive just in time for Hubby to get sick. How unlucky are we?

Since today is Thursday we're both much better. The bug that we had has apparently passed. We've decided that we're not cut out for the New Sanno since that wasn't the first time we've spent an "unforgettable" night there. Although the last time consisted of Crazy screaming at the top of his lungs for 3 hours and us checking out in the middle of the night so we could catch the last train of the night. I think Hubby said it best, "Honey, I just can't take you anywhere!"

On the naughty list

Hubby came home today! Yay! He flew in right before the children's Christmas party. Which was great because that meant he got to be the one who waited in line with Crazy to see Santa. Crazy does not like Santa. This is his second time meeting the jolly ol' St. Nick. It didn't go very well at all.

See what I mean?

Poor kid... I however thought it was pretty funny. But we all know that I'm not exactly up for mother of the year, now am I?

Snow monkeys!

Last night I was emailed the upcoming tour schedule. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the Nagano Snow Monkey tour listed. I'm heading over there this afternoon to reserve my spot to see some monkeys. Hubby and I have been talking about going to Nagano for quite a while now. When I emailed him the good news last night he was less than thrilled. Apparently we have a baby! Who knew? Well come to find out we would have a terrible time on such a long trip with a baby. Screw that!!! I'm going to see some damn snow monkeys!!!! Crazy will love the monkeys. He loves the cats, and monkeys look remotely similar, at least to a baby. They're both hairy and have long tails, right? I've realized that Hubby's problem is that he doesn't spend enough time at home. He's always gone on the ship so he doesn't understand that Crazy is just a little person. All ya got to do it give him a bunch of food and some toys and he'll be fine. Once we're all enjoying the snow monkeys Hubby will realize, once again, that I do know what I'm talking about.

Pocky anyone?

You Are Strawberry Pocky

Your attitude: fresh and sweet Comforting, yet quirky ... quietly hyper You always see both sides to everything

What Flavor Pocky Are You?

According to Hubby...

Last night I was getting Shannon's birthday present and thank-you present for watching my adorable little hairy angels together. I mentioned to Hubby that I wasn't sure what gift to give her for her birthday and which one to save for Christmas since I'd picked up several little things for her in the states. I was in the middle of discussing the pros and cons of giving her each gift when Hubby turns to me and says, " Are you dating this girl?" That's when I realized how nuts I sounded. Then Hubby tells me, "Well it's okay to be a lesbian, but it's not okay to be gay." I laughed my way out of the room.

Just a quick note...

So I don't really have time to write much now. Crazy's due to wake up from his nap any minute and Hubby's still in bed. Did I mention that it's 10:45 am? Why is Hubby still in bed you ask? That's simple, he didn't go to sleep until 6:30 am. He felt that watching the Texas A&M vs. Texas football game was more important than sleep. Then he comes in to wake me up and starts griping at me because he hasn't gone to sleep yet. Riiiiiight, because that's my fault.

Anyway... Here is a much anticipated picture of my little guy at Halloween.

Go on, admit it, you've never seen a skunk cuter than mine!

Well I hear my little stinker waking up so I better do a little parenting, someone around here has to. We can't all just sleep the day away. Can you tell I'm still a little bitter about the comment earlier this morning?

Still in Texas...

So we get to the airport this morning and find that our flight to Dallas has been cancelled due to high winds. After an hour I finally make it up to the ticket counter just to have some guy tell me that I can fly to Dallas today, spend the night, and then leave for Tokyo tomorrow. I had to control myself from jumping over the counter and screaming at him. Instead I just said that I refused to do that with a baby and I would be back tomorrow. So we drove the hour and a half back to my parent's with plans to make the trip again at 5:30am, fun! I had to call Shannon to inform her that I would no longer need a ride on Thursday night, would need her to cancel Crazy's CDC reservation as well as my catscan, and oh yeah, could she pick us up on Friday? The poor girl is being waaaayy to kind. I'll make it up to you Shannon, I promise!

So I realize that I've been slacking on my posts since I've been in Texas. I will go back and fill in the holes once I get home and recover from the shock of how much money I spent. It's a good thing Hubby doesn't know how to check the credit cards online. I'm mailing 10 boxes back to myself and they are far from being small. Outlet malls are evil...

Lil' Stinker

So for Halloween Crazy was the most adorable skunk that you ever saw, which of course isn't hard because it's not every day that you see a cute skunk. You're dying to see a photo of course, but unfortunately my parent's computer was taking FOREVER to upload it, and seeing as I have no patience, you'll have to wait until I get home to my computer. Trust me though, it's worth the wait.

Howdy from Texas!

So we made it to Texas in one piece. The trip over here wasn't too bad. Crazy slept for most of it, thankfully. He made friends with a 1st class flight attendant and got to make a special trip up there. He came back with a rice krispies treat in his hand so I'm guessing it went well. He's not doing so hot sleeping at night though. I have no clue what to do (if anyone else does please feel free to help me) and I think my parents are seriously considering moving us to a hotel.

I went to Target shortly after arriving and wow! the things I've been missing. I don't think my mom grasps just how little we have available to us in Japan. I would get all excited over something small like a new cookie and she'd just look at me like I'd gone crazy. Maybe I have!

Tomorrow Crazy makes his debut as a skunk. After a trip to the pumpkin patch, pictures of my favorite little stinker will be making an appearance. That is after I figure out how to upload them on my parent's computer.

Did I mention that Crazy has a new phrase? (For those who don't know, Crazy's first word was last week - Da Da) Okay so get ready for this, his new phrase is.....

BAD CAT!!!

I kid you not! Even my mom heard it. He was crawling after one of my cats, who by the way wants nothing to do with him, and was saying "Bad cat" over and over. I couldn't stop laughing. I think he picked it up from me telling my cat Smudge that he's a bad cat everytime he's on the counter, table, etc.

So I'm off now to do a little shopping and I already have to mail a box back. I haven't even be here two full days and I'm mailing stuff back. It's going to be an expensive trip.

Word Association

Okay I'm finally going to do your tag Jes. Don't expect brillant things though.

Adaptable - I think of movement. Maybe that just comes to mind because as a Navy spouse you move all the time. I think you have to be very adaptable to make it as a military spouse. Am I adaptable? That depends. I'm a planner. I like to know what I'm doing on any certain day. I have to think things through. It annoys Hubby to no end when I pester him to know what time we're leaving, arriving, staying, leaving again, blah, blah, blah and it's only dinner out. Does that mean I can't cope with him leaving on cruise and not truly knowing when he'll be back? Nah, I'm fine with that, because once he's gone he doesn't affect my day to day activities.

Ego - I think superego. I don't know why though. I think that's all I took from my Psychology of Adjustment class in college. Don't ask me to explain what it is though, no clue, I just remember the word. Once I get past that though I think of a couple of choice people around here having quite a large ego. My biggest pet peeve? Ignorant people, but it's even worse when they have a big ego.

Sensitive - I think doctor's offices. I know what you're thinking, "Weirdo!" But I consider myself an extremely sensitive person. I might not come off that way but trust me... So back to the doctor thing. I tend to only go to the doctor if something's seriously wrong or for my yearly check-up. Inevitably the whole issue of my lack of periods comes up and no joke, the tears come. I have no idea why. It really freaks me out. I guess I feel like something is horribly wrong and I'm being viewed as not normal (ummm, cause I'm not) and pitied. I like feeling like an outcast and that follows me in everything I do.

Conservative - My clothing. I doubt anyone could say I dress anything but conservative. I grew up in the country. It wasn't considered conservative, it was the norm, the proper thing to do. If you wore anything that showed too much skin such as midriff shirts or short skirts (hell no one ever wore short skirts except cheerleading skirts, hold your laughter please) you were considered a slut. I've made some changes to my wardrobe since then of course but then I look around at the wives who don't dress "conservatively" and I am SO glad I'm not one of them.

I choose not to pass on the tag, mostly because I can't think of any words. Sorry!

A Few Things...

So I think a little catching up is in order. Jes, I promise to do your word association before I leave for Texas.

1. A BIG heartfelt thanks goes out to Jes for redoing my blog for me. I have no idea what I'm doing and she graciously took pity on me. It's still in the works though since I still haven't told her what else I want on the page.

2. Crazy's modeling shoot went well. He was the only kid that didn't cry went they were trying to take his picture. He'll be appearing in the Belle Maison spring and summer catalog wearing a Japanese happi coat, shorts and a rope tied around his head. It's was too cute. He also wore a little suit complete with a bowtie, fake tuxedo shirt and french cuffs. Again, too adorable for words.

3. I finally went to the doctor about my migraines. I left the clinic with a prescription for Imitrex (that pill pack is like pure gold to me, you should have seen how excited I was to get something stronger than Tylenol!) and an order for a cat scan at Yokosuka. Apparently having 4-5 migraines in a 6 week period is cause for a cat scan. Now I just need to find the time to have it done.

Now I have to get back to writing my paper. I've be procrastinating long enough. Anyone care to know the types of injuries a victim of a bar fight would have at autopsy?

Crusin' Yokohama

So our Japanese friends gave us tickets to go on a cruise of Yokohama Bay. It was a tea cruise, meaning all you can eat dessert! My kind of cruise. And let me tell you, I got some looks heading back to my table because the amount of food I managed to fit on my plate. Since Hubby is always complaining we never do anything we scheduled the cruise for the day before he left. I had one concern about the cruise. I don't do well on boats. Okay, I do horribly on boats. Flashback to our honeymoon, we took a cruise and a storm came in two hours after we left port. I was being tossed into the walls it was so bad. I got so sick that on the FIRST night I had to run back to our room during dinner to throw up. Never got over it, not a fan of cruises. Anyway, it was a beautiful day for the cruise.

I managed to find some expired Dramamine to take (couldn't find the stupid stuff on base) and felt fine the whole time. By the time we got off however, it was cold, windy, and I suddenly felt drugged. All I wanted to do was lay down and sleep. Hubby, postponing the envitable house-cleaning waiting for him at home, was trying to talk me into doing a little sightseeing and dinner. Needless to say I won. Did I mention that I stupidly wore heels, because Japanese dress up for everything so I was going to kill myself to fit in, and wanted to cry on the walk back to the train station.
Overall, would I do it again? Sure, minus the heels (gosh, how stupid could I be?). We did get a photo taken for our Christmas card. So everyone can anixously await the arrival of that. Thanks to the cold, I have now developed a cold. Lovely timing seeing as Crazy has a bad cold and Hubby left today. Isn't that just great how the world works? Oh wait, I mean the Navy. They must have some secret monitor to know when I'm sick so they can whisk Hubby off. What is it now? Oh yes, three times in a row that I've been sick right before or immediately after Hubby leaves. We do perfectly fine on our own though. I guess that's just one more thing I can put on my application for "Navy Wife of the Year", "manages well while sick". Tomorrow is going to be a bright and shining day though. Crazy has a modeling job and I get to chaperone. Should be interesting. Stay tuned...

And Then There Were Five...

So today was a pretty productive day. We started off by going to our Japanese friend's house for tea. Once there they proceeded to stuff us with six different types of desserts. Gotta love Japan for its multitude of desserts. Then we headed off to Sea Paradise. What's so special about Sea Paradise? Not much to tell the truth, except that they sell the one thing my son can't live without, Bob. We went last year and bought a stuffed beluga whale. Little did we know that once our son was born that he would attach himself to this stuffed animal. His name is Bob, Bob the Beluga Whale. Come to find out that Sea Paradise no longer carries the exact same Bob. Instead they have a larger, "naked" whale. I say "naked" because the original Bob was soft and fuzzy. The Bob replacements are soft and smooth. Did I mention larger? We bought four. Crazy's eyes got HUGE in the store when we showed him the whales. They even had one bigger than Crazy. We showed some restraint and didn't buy it though. I even found a mini-Bob to hook on the diaper bag for emergencies. The things we do for our kids and our peace of mind. Honestly I was more motivated to go get more Bob's because I was worried about losing the original on our upcoming trip to the states. Crazy can sleep almost anywhere when he has Bob. So here's the breakdown of our Bob-finding excursion:

Round-trip train tickets for 2 - 3200 yen
New shirt because mine got covered in spit-up - 7000 yen (okay I bought 3)
New Bobs - 5400 yen
Dim sum and crepe at Sea Paradise- 1400 yen
6 yakatori sticks at train station - 360 yen
Knowing I'll never have to witness a tantrum because Bob is lost/torn/dirty/smells terrible - priceless

It's About Time!

Okay! All I can say is, "It's about dang time I figured this blog thing out!!!" You would think that I would have had a blog before now since I have so much wisedom to share with the world, right? I hope you're catching the sarcasm, if not, you might not want to return to this blog, it'll be real rough for you.