Clara's 4 1/2 month appt.

Clara's down for a nap and Tyler's TDY in SC, so I thought I'd sit down after eating my lunch (read banana) and fold some of hte laundry that I did at Brad and Julie's over the weekend (since we sold our washer and dryer). But then I decided to check other blogs real quick and noticed it'd been a while since i updated. So here I am, staring at my laundry bin of whites and colors that need to be folded while typing my little heart out.

Laundry can wait. My house is a disaster area anyways since the packers came and went with our first shipment of stuff (which, incidentally, does NOT include SILERWARE!! AAaarrrggggghH!!! I was SO MAD when I realized that this morning! I'm seirsouly thinking of puttig a few sets of cutlery in my checked baggage. A good lesson learned though, I guess).

And on a random side note, I think my dog is peeing in the house becuase its too hot outside. Either that or its so hot outside that its baking the old pee so its much more pungent. . . either way my living room stinks like dog pee. (HAhaha anyone want to come visit yet?! : )

Moving on to her appointment yesterday. She's 4 1/2 months old and weighs 11lbs 9 ounces, is 25 and a quarter inches long and her head is 16 inches in diameter.

In percentiles thats 5th for weight, 75th for height and 25th for head.

Her growth rate is fine, she's jsut tall and skinny. I'd be more worried about it if a) her dad and his family wasn't all like that and b) she wasn't rolling over, grabbing for things, making nosises/lauging, and otherwise developing properly.


Man, I'm so mad I forogt to put silverware in that stuupid first shipment. . . . .

Going, Going, GONE!

Craigslist rocks.

We finally sold our washer and dryer today! WOo hoo! I had to modify my posting to say "if this ad is still up, they're still available!" And finally some guy called! Woo hoo! He picked them up today.

However, while its nice to have them gone and no longer on my list of things to get rid of, I'm not terribly excited to have to go to the local Wash Hut with Clara and all our clothes in tow. (Wash Hut, oh man, that's for you guys from the Square. . . remember when I almost got towed but instead got a nasty letter from the wash hut manager saying the only reason my Blazer was still there was because the tow truck had a flat? Hahahahaha, oh man. . . . I hated the Wash Hut. . . . )

I sold my office chair that no longer works as a shiatsu massage chair, and a GIANT CRT monitor. I don't know WHY we moved with it, it seriously weighed 50 pounds.

If anyone needs a dog crate with a washable plush pad, or a refrigerator, let us know. We're also still working on Tyler's car but hopefully that will be gone come mid-week. Keep your fingers crossed cuase that's a biggie, and I do'nt mean fries.

It's the Clara Show! Feat. Frankie

I ORder you to Move to Japan

Tyler finally got his orders--it only took 58 days from the time we submitted all his paperwork. Ehhhhhh. I was really starting to stress out about it, but he finally got them the day before we left for Utah. The whole 'virtual orders issuing' program thing of the Air Force freaked out with this huge influx of orders and promotions right when tyler was suppossed to get his, so they had to reboot hte entire system and we had to wait. Just bad timing for us I guess.

They're packing up our entire house August 4th and 5th. We'll clean it up and tie up any loose ends here in AZ then head out Californey way.

Tyler will fly to Japan on Saturday August 16th and I'll be in California still with Clara and Frankie until he basically gives me the go-ahead to come on over.

So, that's the plan. I'm still not sure when I should put our washer/dryer and refrigerator up for sale. . . I guess I could find a laundrymat nearby and we could use our cooler for milk. . . . . I won't lie, the logistics of moving overseas are pretty interesting.

But at least I know I'll make it to Carp! Woo hoo! Maybe I'll even bring my bike! : ) HAAAAAHAHahahahahahahahahahah!!

Utah Part 3: Troy's Blessing

Sunday morning we packed up our bags and headed out to Perry for Troy's blessing. Tim said a very nice blessing. Clara was a bit of a fuss-bucket again. Everytime I'd sit down on the pew she'd start to get noisy, so I just stood by the door to keep her quiet (I'd duck out when she'd start to fuss again).

Afterwards everyone went to Sara and Tim's for some delicious food: roast beef sandwiches with au jus, funeral potatoes, fresh fruit, brownies, cookies, etc etc etc.

The majority of Tim's family was able to make it out for hte blessing so that was nice to see them all again. Erika and Nate came out as did Les Karen and Tiff and Mac. It was really nice to see everyone again.

Here is Megan, Tiffany and Clara.












Sara and I took a bunch of shots of clara nad Troy right before we left (we could only hang out for about 2 hours becuase our flight left at 5pm). I llike this first one becuase htey're both looking at the camera.
I really like this second one becuase Clara is looking at me and Troy is looking at Sara. (Plus you can see her bloomers! I know I know, there were plenty of shots with her skirt down, but she kept grabbing at it. . . at least she had the bloomers on!) Troy is 6 weeks old and clara is one week shy of 4 months. You'd think there'd be a bigger size difference, but we've already establisehd that clara is tall and skinny. She is getting some chubb on those thighs though! (If you look close)

My mom took a picture of the three of us (Julia nad Lisa coulnd't make it) right before Tyler and I headed to the airport. Of course mom took a 'getting ready' shot of us (I called my nursing cover my 'milk cape' earlier and everyone seemed to get a kick out of it. I wish I could take credit for hte phrase, but Carly, my sister-in-law, first said it and I thought it was hilarious. Adds a bit of superpower to being a mom I think : )

Utah Part 2: Vomit and More Family

The day started well. Clara slept awesome the night before and we were planning on driving back up the canyon a little bit to take the ski lift at brighton, which is more of a sight-seeing/scenic lift in the summertime. I put clara in a SUPER cute outfit (at lest I thought it was : ) and I wrapped her to me while I was eating my whole wheat pancakes (Rich is a Hippie too! But he doesn't say hippie, he said he was 'environmentally sensitive'. I guess that's what I am too : ) But he grinds his own whaeat and has a compost pile!)

Well I go upstairs to put Clara in the carseat for the drive up the canyon and all of a sudden, hhhuuuuueeeeeehhhh She vomits off to the side. Not just spit up, vomit. And there was quite a bit. I call Tyler with a hint of panic in my voice becuase I Don't want to move because I don't know exactly where it all landed. I know some is on me but don't want to step in it or smear it around or anything on the carpet. As soon as tyler comes in the room Clara turns her head to face my chest and lets loose with another load. This one bigger than the first. It literally splashed on my chest and I almost lost it myself. I think I just sort of stood there and said "ahhh!" And that's when she did it a third time. I was horrified. And I kept hearing sara's stupid laugh in the back of my head! I couldn't look as I unwrapped myself and took off the clothes to rinse myself off. I had to wash both of our entire outfits-ENTIRE outfits-becuase htere was that much vomit. It was horrifying. We dind't go to Brighton.

Rich, Tyler and I hung out down by the river while Clara took a much needed nap. All the pictures of Clara in the Pink Pants outfit and with everyone smiling is pre-the incident. After her nap and our chat by the riverside (Which is BEAUTIFUL-although the water was rushing pretty fast so it was a little hard for me to hear the conversation) and also after my clothes were dry, I changed clara and we headed out to his Aunt Jennifer's house (on his mom's side).

She lives in the next canyon over. I don't particularly care for canyon roads I've decided. Or maybe its just tyler's driving, but either way all the driving made me feel sort of icky. But I was fine once I was out of the car. (I'm pretty sure that's why Clara unloaded. All the driving and Flying, I think she gets motion sick : ( )

I do'nt know why I dind't take a better shot of Tyler and his aunts, I jsut wastn' thinking I guess. His aunt Kristen came over for a visit too which was nice. We hadn't see them both in about 3 years I think. Fortunately Clara didn't have another incident while anyone was holding her (but as you can see, Kristen is holding a diaper rag over her for protection just in case).

Patrice's parents came over a little bit later. Again, sort of a bummer PAtrice wasn't there, but I still like the multi-generational shot of Great-Grandparents and progeny.

Clara was having a bit of a rough go for the later part of the afternoon. She wasn't taking a nap and so she was just sort of cranky. I felt bad that she was cranky when Addy wanted to hold her, but she didn't seem to mind too much. I got better shots, but I thought the one of Clara crying ws pretty funny : )

Later that night Tyler and I took Rich to Bombay House. YES! I love their coconut Korma, it's fantastic. Something about hte extra coconut htat makes it sweeter and awesome. Plus we had some good memories of that place from when we lived in Provo and Layton. Rich was a good sport to come with us. Towards the end of the meal I had tyler hold clara so I could finish (lets be real, start). Garlic Naan isn't as awesome cold, but it was still delish. He and Rich started talking about planes and jets and stuff again. I wasn't really paying attention becuase i was eating, but I thought this picture was sort of funny. And I thought Tyler was bad around the Moffats in Texas! : ) I'm just kdiding. They both love to talk about flying and jets and all things associated with dogfighting, so it was nice for them I think. Plus did I mention we were at hte Bombay House?

Utah Part 1: The Fourth at Grandpa Rich's

As pArt of our "fly-around-the-country-to-see-family-before-we-move-5,000-miles-away-for-three-years" extravaganza, we went to Utah to visit Tyler's Grandpa Rich and to go to my Nephew's baby blessing. We were also able to spend some time with two of his aunts and his Grandparents from the other side.

Grandpa Rich let us stay at his place for two nights. We took approximately 1.3 bajillion pictures with my new camera and I must say, he takes excellent photos with a baby. He'll just smile and not break it until I put the camera down. Which is really nice becuase then everytime I get a shot of Clara looking at hte camera, he's looking too! : )

Clara's wearing a cute little Fourth of July Dress that Julia gave her. We flew in Friday morning (the fourth) and drove straight to RIch's place.

Its too bad Greg wasn't there too, then I could have had a picture of all four generations, but I guess three will do : ) So here's Tyler, Clara and Great Grandpa Rich at his house in Sandy.

I started giving myself a little tour (ok, a big tour) of hte place and backyard while Tyler and Rich were talking (mostly about flying : )

Clara was napping while we all sat out in teh shade by the river and chatted. Well, I really just took pictures and Tyler and Rich chatted : ) I didn't mind htat hte conversation was 99% flying. Tyler loves to talk about it and I thik Rich loved to hear about it. ANd I was just relishing all the foliage! GREEN! I Love it! I hate the desert. Do yo usee all the green in this photo!!



A CLoser shot of Clara in her Festive Fourth Attire.











Tyler was tryign to get her to smile for me.






Rich made ar eally nice dinner for the Fourth. We had a nice BBQ outside on the patio and I had a huge platefull of rice nad vegetables and steak and it was awesome.











I'm not so sure why everyone appears to be so serious in this photo, becuase as you can clearly ell from the previous picture, it was a very convivial evening. But I still thought it was a good shot of everyone.

For dessert that nigth we had giant bowls of fresh strawberries (well, mine was giant anyway becuase i kept cutting and cutting strawberries : ) with vanilla ice cream. Then we hooked up the laptop to his TV and looked at all the photos and movie clips we took taht day.

All in all Day 1 on the trip was really great. We also took a drive up the canyon a little bit. I got a little uncomfortable form the windy road, but it was very beautiful.


I LOVE this little clip of Rich hugging clara. I didn't know I ws recording (I'm still getting used to the camera and all its settings and functions) so the clip was a pleasant surprise when I found it. I only wish I hadn't cut it out so soon--but I idn't realize I was recording!

Tagged: Top 5 Pet Peeves

I was tagged by name by Alicia over a week ago, so here's my delayed Tag Response.

1. When I find items in my kitchen cupboards that don't belong. Like a plastic tupperware bowl in my glass baking dish cabinent, or a glass bowl in my pots and pans area. (Or when tyler hides my random items on the top shelf so I can't find them, like my steamer basket and cheese grater and the occasional measureing cup)

2. When books on a shelf aren't in order of height. I'm pretty much like Monk; I have to re-order them so they're in ascending or descending height order. Same with boxed items in my pantry, like cereals. They also have to be facing the same way. Same with DVDs. They're all the same height, which is nice, but they all have to be facing the same way so you can read all the titles.

3. Poor customer service. I, much like my mother-in-law, am not afraid to make a scene or to demand a manager. I am the customer. You may not think I'm right, and I may look 16 to you, but I don't care. I am still a paying customer and as such demand competent people to assist me when needed and I need you get get someone to make this shopping trip a satisfying experience for me if you can't do it.

4. Taking off my shoes at the airport. Mcuh to tyler's chagrin, I despise this and voice my abhorrence to this 'requirement' every time we fly. TSA take note, I am THIS close to saying its against my religion to take off my shoes in public. I don't know why it bothers me so much, but I hate it. I've acutally not taken them off before and they gave me the extra screening, which I was fine with. It was a few years ago. She sat me in the chair and took off my shoes to scan them anyways-after she wanded my entire leg with the shoe on and it dind't make a peep. Had that happend today, she would have had to have me arrested brofer I let her take my shoes off (its the principle, that's why I'm in the second screening in the first place you dummy). I hate it. Hate hate HATE it. And when they shout at you from behind the metal detector to take them off, I don't know. I feel like I just got off a train in Austria or something and they're dividing us up. It just feels demeaning and I think its stupid. Flip Flops are not a security risk--I don't care waht the "shoe bomber" did with his sneakers. It doesn't make anything more secure its just a pain in my butt.

5. When people don't merge every other one. ESPECIALLY when they're trying to sneak infront of me as a second car. I'll let you hit me, I don't care. Lets play chicken. Lets. I DARE YOU!! I've held my ground on more than one occasion. People need to learn. Like the pick-up who tried ot get in front of me becuase he thought he was cool and I didn't let him so he had to choose to either hit the cones and eventually the big lighted "merge" sign, or to vere off to the freeway onramp. He chose the onramp. You knnow you have to merge, and we're going slower than a snail anyways! Trying to get one car length ahead won't do you any good, trust me. Same as punching the gas towards a red light. Why? I'll just beat you off the line becuase I dind't have to stop all the way like you did. Use your brains poeple. (Stupid people obviously bother me as well, so I guess that would be a 6th pet peeve).

I know some people don't enjoy tags, but I don't know who. So to play it safe, I will refrain from naming names, but would love to read abou some of your guys' pet peeves : )

Feet!

Clara officially found her feet on the 29th. She's getting better at grabbing them, but she still can't quite get them in her mouth. I think its hilarious when she grabs her foot then brings her hands to her face, but her foot slips out so her hands rocket to her face and she startles herself. She usually just smiles at me then tries again.

Frankie, Frankie, Frankie >sigh<

Things Frankie does NOT Like to Eat:
-Pretzels
-lettuce
-olives
-mustard
-asparagus

Things Frankie DOES Like to Eat:
-Clara's Poop
-Clara's Spitup (or spilled, non-digested breastmilk--she's not picky)
-Cheese
-Cake Batter
-Compost

Of course the Base Vet was closed yesterday for Inventory, so I had to take her to the Goodyear Animal Hospital. I had them do a fecal exam (becuase there are little solidified pools of formerly liquid poop in our backyard) and a full blood analysis to make sure there she didn't have any parasites or any major organ problems from eating half a bucket of COMPOST!

She was draining bowls and bowls of water but I thought it was just becuase it was 114 degrees for 5 days straight. Then two days ago she ate every bit of kibble from her bowl INCLUDING the Weight Management! She even had two more full scoops of pure weight management and ate every last kibble. So I knew somethign was definitely wrong. AND! AFter those two scoops sshe kstill kept pawing her bowl and barking! She moved her bowl all the way to the middle of the kitchen, then she'd come out and stare at me--bark--then go paw her bowl again.

Fortunately the lab work came back and she's fine-just got a messed up stomach for the next few days until her system rebalences.

She threw up a piece of avocado rind this morning. Awesome squared. I hope that means shes balanced.

Happy Birthday To ME!

For my Birthday Tyler bought me an AWESOME new Digital Camera!

I'd post a picture of it, but its a camera and it can't take a picture of itself.

Its the Sony Cyber-Shot and its the coolest thing ever. 9.1 megapizels, so that's officially double my old Olympus.

Its got tons of cool features that we're still figuring out, but its going to be awesome.

I also got a 2gig memory card (with adapter) and a nice carrying case! So stay tuned for some high quality shots from the Youngs!