The Tooth Fairy

  

 We are still at the baby teeth arrival stage, but one of the things I'm looking forward to is the return of the Tooth Fairy.

The back story on poor Haylee's situation is that her parents forgot about the tooth and when they finally remembered the mom found this note under her pillow.  I have to say that I love it.  Sure, a four day delay on payment for a dead tooth is a tiny problem to have, but when you're between the ages of 5 and 8 (ages provided by the Mayo Clinic via Google) the delay feels significant.

I remember being amazed at how I couldn't catch the Tooth Fairy no matter how hard I tried and one time, my tooth was in a glass on the window ledge in our kitchen and she made the switch in BROAD DAYLIGHT.  One minute the tooth was there, I stepped into the other room for a minute, returned and BAM the tooth was gone!  In it's place was a 50 cent piece.   My little mind was totally blown.    This was about the time that I made a not so wise investment in the Washington Public Power Supply System, like my investment in Washington Mutual Bank it was a sad lesson in financial mismanagement.  I may be pretty, but it seems I'm a bit naive.

Back to our point, as Lucy morphs from the sweet baby blob to a fully functioning toddler it is easier to see her as the little girl who will zip up and down the stairs, take 'swims' in our big bathtub and who will write letters to Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.

For the record, the incoming tooth count to date is eight.  Lucy has her top and bottom central incisors (front teeth), her top lateral incisor (those two cute teeth that sit next to the top teeth) and the top first molars.  Per the chart from the handsome dentist Dr. Otto (whoops, did I say 'handsome', I meant to say 'capable') Lucy's teeth are popping in right on time and more importantly, in the right order.  See, she IS a genius.

I have been assured that Miss Haylee's situation has been resolved and that her payment demands have been met.  Let's hope that the Tooth Fairy assigned to Lucy's case is more diligent about timely payments.

A dance from the luau

Oh yes, that is Jason picking up the all important leaf of peace.

Maui Recap

We arrived on a windy day, but the temperature was pleasant and in spite of the Red flags on the shore alerting us to high surf we quickly hopped into the ocean for an inaugural dip.   We weren't in much danger with our water activities, which mostly included hoping waves and some light swimming.  Had we been attempting to snorkle around the reef that was a few yards into the bay, then it would have been an issue.  Later in the week when we ventured out we realized that the coral at some points is only about 1 -2 feet under water and swimming over it in rough waters would be extremely dangerous.

We stopped at Costco after picking up our rental car and purchased supplies for the week.  By supplies you know I mean wine and the required jug of Trader Vic's Mai Tai.  Sadly, we ended up having to return some of the wine as we were not as 'winey' as we thought we would be.

Our days mostly started out with breakfast, either at the Gazebo restaurant next door or at home with leftovers from the Gazebo restaurant next door.  This was a popular place that opened at 7:30 am, and the line started to form at 7:00.  We foolishly arrived at 7:20 and were in the second round of seating.  The wait, however, was worth it!  Macadamia nut pancakes with a coconut whipped cream topping.   (DROOL)  We also ordered their house breakfast fried rice.  HOLY GUACAMOLE, this is a tasty treat.  Along with fresh onions and peppers this rice is chock full of bacon, ham and sausage.  It was a mouth watering savory companion to the fluffy but sweet pancakes.   The serving was huge and thus there was enough for us to have it for breakfast the following day and if we had been super frugal the day after that.

The blow hole

We did a few road trips, the first was to the Maui Blow Hole.  The  rental car road map stated that there were parts of the island that we weren't allowed to drive, but they didn't give actual mile markers.  I'm a nervous nelly and assumed we were in the "red zone" the minute the road switched from a four lane to a narrow 2 lane.  The drive to the blow hole was easy and my anxiety was for nothing.  This isn't a park or a sight that is marked with signs. We drove until we saw where all the cars were pulled over and decided to get out an see.  Sure enough, over the bluff there it was.    When the lava cooled, I'm guessing a few weeks ago, a tunnel was formed and when the surf crashes in a rather impressive spout of water shoots out.

We decided to hike down the "trail" to get a better view.  It is not a state park with any kind of maintained walkway, but we saw moms with kids and older folks making their way back up, so we thought we could do it.  If you are not sure footed, or can't chew gum and walk at the same time, this is not a hike for you.  The human brain is working overtime with each step, focusing on balance, the next step, which rock looks the most secure and how not to fall on your ass takes some effort.   

Our beach, Napili Bay

Hand painted signs inform you that you should not venture to the wet rocks and NOT down to the flat surface where the blow hole is.  Recently, some Darwin Award Winner went in for a better photo op and got sucked in.  The news stories didn't say if his body was recovered, but I would hope for his family that what goes in, goes out.

Anywho... we didn't go that far.  We hiked down to about two thirds of the way to where we could get good photos and then stopped.  Our big camera earned her place in our home with some great shots.

Another day, we decided to drive some of the way to Hana.  That is a fun drive, but not one for a passive driver.  It took us about 3 hours to go 30 miles.  Its faster on the way back because we didn't have to stop and take pictures along the way back.  The road is VERY twisty and narrow.  There are lots of one lane bridges and for the most part people were considerate.  A couple times we had to get the hell out of the way of a tour bus and a VERY large delivery truck.    We also had to dodge an asshole whose hug the wall skills sucked.  No matter, it was a beautiful drive and we stopped at a lovely place and had our boxed lunch that we picked up in Paia.    We didn't make it all the way to Hana, but we weren't trying to get there.  The guidebook says the trip IS the destination, and we wanted to get back in time for a good dinner.  Since it was our vacation and we were in agreement it was a perfect outing.

windy, but happy

I booked us into the Four Winds II, a catamaran day-trip to the tiny island of Molokini.  This little horseshoe is a sanctuary and walking on or even touching the island is prohibited.  The boats come and moor on the inside of the crater and the happy (mostly pasty white) tourists tumble into the sea to snorkel.  The trip was worth the cost, but not for the snorkeling.  We enjoyed meeting the very friendly crew, other vacationers and the open sea.  We saw some whales (but not at close range) and the sea life at the crater was nice, but we had more colorful fish at our little bay by the condo.   Also, we saw a LARGE turtle at our bay as well - that was amazing and very exciting.

The boat trip day was a lot of fun, but because we started so early, launched at 7:00 am, the cool icy wine that started to flow at 10am didn't seem so wrong.  Turns out... Terri drank all day and half way though the movie we rented for the evening (and the entire bottle of red wine that "we" opened and "I" drank) I went to bed to watch something else and Jason said when he came to bed he watched about an hour of tv and I didn't move at all.  He said he did a breath check to see if I was alive, but clearly my day was OVER.   The next morning, Terri not feel so good.  (sad face)  I think I had a mai tai with dinner that night, but it was a water day.  Whoops.

Our other beach excursion day was to a bay we saw on our way to the blow hole.  This cove had actual stairs down to the ocean and a nice flat beach.  The beach at the condo was great for swimming and snorkeling, but had a wicked pitch that made hanging out ocean side a bit iffy.  This little beach was protected from the wind and nicely flat.  In fact, unlike our beach that dropped off to about 6-10 feet deep at about four feet from shore, this beach was shallow for yards and yards off shore.  The surf was great for body surfing and we think it would be a nice place for kids to play.  (We're already talking about when to come back with a larger crew, including the Peanut.)

At the luau

Our night time activities included dinners out at multiple beach side places and an evening at a luau.  I think the luau is a required activity and the one we (I) chose was a winner.  Somehow we were seated in the front row which gave us an unencumbered view of the pretty dancers.  The different thing about this luau vs. the other shows is that they had four shows, each from a different pacific island region, Hawaii, New Zealand, Samoa and Tahiti.  Each dinner course was from the featured region and the dances were native to that area as well. 

We did cook "in" one night and our rib eye and tater tot meal was superb.  We had to gift our second rib eye to the leathery couple downstairs on our last night, but we always had the option to eat it. 

Lucy was never far from our minds and about mid-day Thursday I was aching to go home.  Friday was rough because my desire to be home was in over drive and my vacation is ending sadness was happening at the same time.  We kept ourselves busy and made sure to savor our last day.

I give us an A+ for packing in lots of fun activities, but not over doing it.    We tried the Shave Ice (a glorified snow cone) and loved the one at the shop where she made her own syrups. 

We get a B- for escaping the tourist shopping enclaves.  We are returning home with t-shirts and a loud hawaiian shirt for Jason, a semi-loud hawaiian dress for me and a pink and yellow floral beachy dress for Lucy.  I picked up a snorkel set (fins, mask and breathing tube) from Costco - which was a great buy.  Jason opted to upgrade his breathing tube that was purchased in the 1990's and his price point was the same as my entire kit.  His goggles are made with his prescription, so that the love of my life who is blind as a bat can see the fishies, therefore he only needed an upgraded snorkel tube. 

I give us a C- for staying up late, the three hour time difference is rough.  I was thankful for the days we 'slept in' until 6:00 am.  We got some wonderful uninterrupted sleep and the time zone is NOTHING to complain about.

We get an A+ for sun management.  We are a pretty brown, without any burns or scally skin.  My self tanner with sun screen helps that a lot, but we both started out WHITE and are returning home with a healthy start on the summer glow. 

Vacationing without Lucy was good and bad.  Every time I saw a family with a "Lucy"  I felt pangs in my heart, but I know that for the 20% of the time that she would have been happy 80% of the other time she, or we would have been miserable.   Grandma and Grandpa did a great job and other than some strange 4:30 am wake ups she was fine. 

We get in tonight at 8:00 pm and she'll already be in bed, but I'm sort of hoping for a middle of the night wake up so I can get my hands on my girl.  This mothering thing is bigger than I thought it would be. 

We will certainly invoke the grandparents again for future vacations, but I can wait. 

Talk with you soon. Mahalo

Missing my girl.

Today's Maui Picture

Ah....Maui

a silly video from a few weeks ago

Sunset & The view from our balcony

Good Morning from Maui

It was a long day yesterday, getting up at 4:00 am and then finally giving up the dream of staying up until 10:00 pm Hawaii time (which would have been 1:00am home time.) Lucy who, like the family dog senses that something is up when the luggage is pulled out, was up at 4:00 am to visit with us before we left. I will share that it was rough leaving our Peanut. She is in excellent hands and was (mildly) happy when we zipped out the door. She's been on our minds and in our conversations, which only means that we're parents who like and miss their kid.

 Our flight was nice, and rather uneventful. That's a good thing for a flight where you need to pay attention to where the life rafts are. Our flight attendant, Donny, looks like he spends a LOT of time in the sun in the Hawaiian Islands. To suggest he was leathery would be going lightly.

We explored the tiny town near the airport, at lunch at "THE" sports bar. Then we did what all people do on a Saturday regardless of where they are. COSTCO! We picked up steak, cheese, chips, wine and Trader Vic's Mai Tai's. Then we started our drive across the island to our condo.

Maui is actually quite small, and in less than an hour (mostly because of a 35 mile per hour speed limit) we were pulling into our condo. It was fun to drive through the valley then around the south side of the island to see all the people at all the beaches. We got oriented and even found the grocery store nearest our home base. Our condo unit is the end unit closest to the ocean and the view is amazing. We have a large lanai off the living room, that all the condos have, but because we don't have a neighbor on the ocean side we also have mini-balconies along the west side of the condo. We slept with the windows open and were lulled to sleep by a)being extremely tired after our 20 hour day and the sounds of the waves.

 We awoke this morning at 4:00am local time and are now, at 6:00 am enjoying coffee, Love's Bakery donut holes and planning our day. I know there will be more time in the ocean, the bay that we're on is good for swimming and we will go explore Lahaina today. Our goal is to find a place to have dinner and stay up until 10:00pm tonight.

The condo is well appointed, the bed is comfortable, but the coffee maker, Mr. Coffee, sizzles and crackles as if there is a leak in the pot. It sounds a lot like cooking bacon. BACON! That is on our agenda at 7:30 when the breakfast place next door opens up.

Maui, Mommy & Morning Sickness

DON'T FREAK OUT... WE ARE NOT HAVING ANOTHER BABY.

Morning sickness refers to our girl.  Wednesday, I got a call from "school" at 3:00pm saying that Lucy was sick.  When this has happened in the past the "sickness" has been mostly hooey - a cranky girl who REALLY needed to nap, or a not nice, but not medically concerning diaper rash.  However, when they call, I go.

When I arrived, she was not wearing the super cute outfit from the morning and when I looked in her cubby there were not one, but two bundles of her clothes in plastic bags.  She seemed perky and happy.  I noticed that the schools 'mega stroller' (this thing holds 8 kids!) was outside and one of the teachers was wiping up "stuff" from two stations.  Apparently, Mason got sick in the morning and was sent home, but whatever he had going on in his sad tummy had already been shared with Lucy and one other classmate.

They took the kids to the park in the mega stroller without knowing that the bug had spread.  They knew pretty quickly once the kids starting giving back their lunches.  That must have been one sad and stressful walk back to the school.

As I said, Lucy looked fine.  She wasn't hot or cranky.  However, halfway between school and our house (it's less than 2 miles) she threw up in the car seat.  Poor little peanut, she was strapped in an it was a big throw up. I pulled over to run back to "help".  I didn't really have much to offer other than kind words and to help her lean forward.  I guess it's the mommy equivalent of holding her hair back while she threw up.

Once we got home I we took a quick bath, changed into pj's and then made our way downstairs onto a cozy (yet easily washable) quilt.  Lucy then threw up every 15 minutes for about 3 hours.  It was sad and we were both a stinky mess by the time dad got home.  She was super tired, so we gave her a second bath and an new clean set of pj's.  She went to sleep without any fuss.  I popped into her room about every 20 minutes to make sure she was sleeping on her side or at least not face up.  I had fears of her throwing up in her sleep and not having the awareness to spit it out.

Lucky us, she slept like a champ and woke up hungry and in a good mood.  Banned from school I had to take the day off and with a kid who didn't act sick we had a play day.  I did have to cancel my long planned, pre-vacation hair cut and color, but I suppose these are the things that we do for our kids.  Lucy woke up early and in spite of not acting sick, took a two hour nap at 7:30 am.  Later, after some food and a snuggle we packed up for a trip to Costco and then Safeway.  (My overly ambitious plan was Costco, Ulta, Target and Safeway, but that didn't work out.)  That afternoon, after a regular food lunch, Miss Lucy napped for another two hours. She was happy and her tummy was quite calm.

Back to school she went yesterday.  Mason was there but his mom restricted his diet to crackers and juice.  Holy heck mom, aren't you aware that your kid is an EATER?  He's a sweet boy, but he would eat from the time he woke up until he fell asleep if you would let him.  He has no "full" button.  (Lucy has one and it looks like "hey I'm done here, so I'm putting the rest of this onto the floor.")  So, with Lucy back on a regular diet, her breakfast of fruit and bagels were pure torture for Mason.  He stood at the high chair and practically begged for food.

Lucy did seem tired yesterday and didn't nap well at school.  She had a yummy dinner of chicken, orange peppers, strawberries and some string cheese and then took a quick bath and off to bed.   It was only 5:20 and we knew it meant that she'd be up early today (5:11am) but keeping her up just so we can sleep in until 6 is not ok.

Over night, she made NO noise.  She seemed to be sleeping like normal.  However at 5:00 am I heard her fussing (not crying) I went to get her and immediately upon opening the door could tell something was really wrong.  Sometime during the night she had thrown up her dinner and instead of crying for help, she went back to sleep and it was everywhere.  I felt so bad, because it smelled terrible, she must have been uncomfortable with it on her pj's and in her hair.

Since John & Susie are here, we opted to keep her home from school today and we are nursing a happy kid with a sensitive tummy.  She only wants to drink milk which could be an issue, but at least it's liquid. She's on a diet of toast, pears, apple sauce, and bananas.  She took a nap this morning and I'm confident we'll get another one this afternoon.     Having extra help is great because I can still nurture her and they are having fun playing with her.

We leave for Maui tomorrow morning and I am of course conflicted about leaving behind a child that is not 100% well, but she is in excellent hands.  The time they are spending together today (with me popping in and out) will make for a smooth transition.  Leaving her here is far less stressful than if we knew she was not feeling well and we were going to try to take her with us tomorrow.  The idea of a mildly sick kid on a five hour flight curls my toes, and not in a good way.

We are packed and checked in.  I am VERY excited about the trip and looking forward to the "idea" of sleeping in.  It won't happen because we are programmed to be up at 6am, but at least we'll be waking up to the sounds of the ocean and not a much loved but early riser baby.

Stair Climber

This one was a few weeks earlier

Easter Weekend

Loving the new swing at Grammys.

I love a long weekend!  We ventured over to Eastern Washington to visit with the grandparents.  Grammy Georgia hung a swing in the back yard and while tentative at fist, Lucy quickly decided it was a good thing. 

Hanging in the hammock

My loves

 We spent a good amount of time outside, which Lucy loves.  She wasn't too sure about the hammock, but we managed a cute photo, so for all anyone knows she thought it was great.

Lucy cemented her "un-invitation" to Maui by not sleeping well in our shared hotel room.  At one point, Jason forgot where he was and asked me if I turned her monitor up to full blast.  "No I didn't, she's in the same room with us."  Whoops.  She was up from 1:30 to 4:00 am.  The upside was that she slept the entire car ride home.  It was the ugly sleep too, her mouth was slack and she actually snored.   Thankfully, she perked up for some playtime, dinner and a bath, then slept like a champion that night.  Still, she made me feel even better about leaving her at home while we head to the tropics for a week.

Speaking of, the Denver grandparents arrive tomorrow evening, so we are in house cleaning mode.  Yes, we just had a house full of company, but that was a long weekend, it wasn't people living in our house and searching for things they need.  There's a different level of clean required for that.

I think Jason is worried because I have a large pile at the top of the stairs and it seems to be getting worse, but my strategy is to stage stuff in a common location and then dispose of it all at once.   The house looks horrible and then all at once, it looks put together.  That's my hope anyway.

Right now, the guest bed is covered in my Maui gear, shorts, tops, swim suits, dresses, and shoes... lots and lots of shoes.  Since our guests arrive tomorrow, tonight is "Pack Night".

Shades!

"hunting" for Easter eggs

She isn't looking, therefore it is mine!

This is a great day!!!

Opening Easter gifts.  The paper is amazing

Flirting at bath time

Weekend Recap

I did win money in the huge Mega Millions lottery.  I scanned my ticket this morning and the report came up that I'm a $2.00 winner.  I told Jason and he asked for $1.  As Washington is a community property state, I guess I have no choice but to share. It kills me to give up half of my winnings, but honestly, he's worth it.

My Smart GuyFriday, we got word that Jason passed his certification exam for the new technology platform he attended training on.  There were six people in his class and of the five that took the test earlier, only one passed.  He had to wait a week to take his exam (due to some crisis at work) and the results from his co-workers was making him nervous.   He applied that energy into studying and taking the practice tests and not only did he pass, but he did so with a very good score.  Way to go!

Happy Anniversary
Saturday, we strapped the kid into the safety seat and drove to Shelton to attend the 50th Wedding Anniversary party for some old friends. . Shelton is a small, logging town about 30 minutes outside of Olympia, and it's kind of on the way to the strange land where the Twilight Vampires live.  I did expect sparkly people to pop out of the woods from time to time.

The party was nice, but other than the happy couple we didn't know anyone.  There were people there that knew my parents, but the host was bad at introductions and would introduce us at "Art's daughter" but didn't offer the other persons name.  I did have a conversation with a gal who went to high school with my dad and his sister, but it was a short conversation.

Also, while sitting on the couch I found pin in the cushion.  Clearly, the lady or lord of the house is a sewer and crafts on the couch.  From that moment on my comfort level for letting Lucy roam on the furniture dropped to zero.  I'm sure I looked like a crazy person patting the furniture and picking at the cushions, but I couldn't get the memory of all the pins that would be everywhere in Aunt Evelyns furniture. on her floor, or when she'd leave my house after a visit.  She was not baby compatible.

The groom, Mike seemed smaller than I remember.  Granted I was wearing tall shoes, but for the first time ever he sort of felt old.  He seemed pleased to see us and I'm glad we went.  I had forgotten how he calls his wife "Mother".  Listen up boys, referring to your wife as Mother is creepy and wrong.  Jason calls me "mama" from time to time, but he does it when he's speaking on behalf of Lucy.  "Mama, can you get me a clean pair of pants?"  It is not "Mama, where would you like to have dinner tonight?" or "Mama, wanna make out?"  ICK

We stayed at the party for about an hour and then used Lucy as an excuse to move on home.  We decided not to backtrack and drove up the peninsula to Bremerton and took the ferry across to Seattle.  Our GPS decided we wanted to take the Southworth / Vashon ferry and we didn't figure out the mistake until we were at the Southworth exit off Highway 16.  It was 4:05 and we were hoping to make the 4:15 ferry.  I knew we wouldn't make it and would have to make Lucy suffer through an hour wait at the ferry terminal.  Thank goodness for Jason because he has faith.  We paid the toll at 4:13 and were the 3rd to the last car on the ferry.   Lucy was happy to be home and even managed to stay up and play until almost 6:45 pm.  (party girl!)

Sunday, Cranky Sunday
What is it about a kid who stays up "late" that feels the need to wake up early?  Our night owl from the night before woke up to start her day at 5:45 Sunday morning.  (Today, Monday, she had to be woken up at 7:00 am!)   We don't stay up late unless we have plans, which is a good thing, because even with a 10:00 pm bedtime, 5:45 am on Sunday feels early.

I'm not touching you!

With such an early waking we had time to make breakfast and have a leisurely morning.  In spite of the cup of good coffee and the excellent peanut butter toast I was cranky yesterday morning.  I was irritated at my most excellent spouse and knew it was borderline irrational, so I tried to keep it to myself.  However, in my state of spitefulness I picked up my own breakfast dishes and put them in the dishwasher, but did not touch his plate.  I wondered how long he would let it sit on the table before he did anything with it.  I finally put it away, while he was making dinner.  You can't be irritated at someone for their failure to pick up after themselves when you a) leave shit everywhere too and b) they are making you dinner.

My attitude adjustment came far later in the day, so during church I was still cranky and not at all happy with the discovery that it was Palm Sunday.  Now, as a day Palm Sunday doesn't piss me off, but they give out palm fronds and the kids (Jason and Eric) can not help themselves by using it to poke their neighbors.  To be fair, Jason didn't actually poke me in the face with the fond, but somehow being poked and having the thing .25 centimeters from your face feel like the same things.

After church, we headed home for a two hour nap for little Miss 5:45 is Awesome!  Jason did some work and I watched tv and sulked.

 We ventured out in the afternoon to the outlets in Woodinville.  The Hanna Andersson store does wonders for my mood.  The kid clothes are happy and bring summer into my world.  I hope Lucy likes girly stuff because I think it's the cutest.

Eddie Bauer had some nice finds too, including a very casual, but pretty summer dress for me and a pair of shorts I would not have purchased had they not been 50% off.  I was not at all pleased to discover after we left Woodinville that the clerk did not actually give me the 50% off for the shorts.  Grumble.   Rather than head back to Woodinville, we're going to stop at the outlet store in North Bend on our way to visit the Granger Grandparents and if they can't make the price adjustment I'll simply return the darned shorts.  Grumble.

All these minor irritations were nothing compared to how bad I felt for Lucy.  She had a "poop situation" or rather "I need to go and can't" situation.  Poor little bug worked on her problem all day and it was horrible to not be able to help her.  We loaded her up on juice (prune) and fruit as well as water but I think we may have just been adding pressure to the backlog (sorry for that imagery.)  Finally, at 5:30 she worked something out and it was clear she felt a lot better.  I warned the day care teachers that she might be extra poopy today but thankfully they haven't called to say "come get your angry, pooping child."

 What I find ironic is that she has one teacher that makes it seem like Lucy is the only child who "goes" a lot at school.  "Oh, every diaper, is poopy."  Where as, I know for a fact that everybody poops.  I read a book once.   I guess I shouldn't feel judged when Lucy goes on a regular basis, it is far worse when she doesn't, as that's when I know that her diet is off.

By bedtime I had shaken off my dark cloud and went to bed with a sunny attitude.  One of the frustrating things about a bad mood is that it seems to cascade; my ability to roll with normal minor issues is diminished and I'm not the person I want to be.  Thankfully, that was yesterday, today I am very much back to normal.  In fact, when I cut a hole in my shirt while removing tags from the pretty Hanna Andersson clothes I didn't even cry or curse.  The other good thing... only 13 sleeps until we leave for Maui.

Maui!!!!!!!!!!!