Birthday Craziness

Soo...at long last, I'm going to post about the birthday.

X was having tummy trouble starting on Sunday. He had no appetite and mild diarrhea, so we didn't go to the zoo like we had planned to. We kept him home on Monday, because he wasn't getting any better. On Monday night around 10, he woke up crying that his belly hurt. He started screaming, so we packed him in the car and drove an excruciating 11 miles to the Kaiser hospital. On the way, he threw up in the car and felt a little better.

He writhed on his bed for awhile and we waited for a doctor. By the time the doctor showed up, he had calmed down a bit. The doctor poked his belly and said he didn't think it was his appendix, since that side didn't hurt. He suspected that it was constipation (!), a theory that Bobby had floated an I had dismissed, because diarrhea. X had calmed down quite a bit at that point, and was playing with a snow plow I found in my purse. He clutched the plow when he went to get X-rays, and the technician let him hang onto it while she scanned his belly. The doctor returned after midnight and wished X a happy birthday, and told us that he had a lot of poo in his colon. Oops.

Bobby spent the next day giving X Miralax-laced apple juice, and we skipped the birthday dinner, since he didn't want any. He did eat a piece of his fabulous fire truck cake. We had the birthday dinner the following day, after Bobby spent another day escorting X to the toilet so he could narrate his movements. To this day, Bobby is X's preferred pooping companion.

We never did make it to the zoo. Soon it was my birthday, then a steady string of free Christmas activities took over. Maybe in January.

A fabulous plane that he can assemble and take apart.

Playing with his snow plow in the ER.

It's a soccer ball!

Resting with his new transformers.

Blowing out his candle with his new transformers.

Fire truck cake, created by Bobby Healey.

Never Walk Alone

I was going to post Xander's birthday today. It was eventful, and I will have to get to it later. Spoiler: he spent part of it in the hospital. But if you read this blog, you probably already know the story. So it can wait.

Times are hard. Bobby lost his job again. 2014 was a long string of new jobs and layoffs, sometimes in quick succession. This year, he almost made a one year anniversary with his animal hospital. Unfortunately, the primary doctor had a heart attack, and many of the staff lost their jobs, Bobby included.

The past three weeks have been frantic: searching postings, interviewing, hearing back, not hearing back, worrying. We don't really have a nest egg. The holidays are coming.

Yesterday was tough for both of us, but I was reminded of this song. I listened to it 1,000 times. And something clicked. Everything is going to be ok.

Today is Thanksgiving. We have so many things to be thankful for. For years, all I ever wanted was X. The Thanksgiving after he was born, we pulled the wishbone and I, the winner, realized that I had absolutely nothing to wish for. It's moments like this that make moments like that.

Life ain't perfect, but it's certainly good enough. That'll do for now. I love you all.

Happy Thanksgiving, ya'll. We'll be ok.

The Strange Ways We Deal with Tragedy

This terrible thing happened in Paris. There was massive loss of innocent lives. It was senseless. People were gunned down for the simple crime of being out on a Friday night. It's tough to process this, more so because so many of us have been to Paris, know people from Paris, or have French family. There's not really anything these victims could have done to avoid their fates. They could have been any of us or our family members.

In the face of such incomprehensible heartbreak, we have become oddly polarized. Gun rights activists have started screaming about how this wouldn't have happened if the citizens of Paris were armed. I have started to realize that there's some magical thinking involved in gun rights rhetoric. It's much easier to believe, "well this would never happen to me because I am armed," than to realize that this can happen to anyone.

The more troubling sentiment, to me, is the strange liberal one that we're somehow wrong in mourning with Paris. Parisians are European, and in making a big deal out of their tragedy, we are somehow lessening the tragedy faced by African and Asian countries every day. It's hard for me to see people I am usually on the same page with ideologically act so ridiculously.

I like to think that this comes from a very human place; that it's just easier to argue than it is to grieve. Still, I wish we could stick to arguing about Starbucks cups and not snipe at each other about the proper way to feel pain.

Happy Halloween

This was sort of X's first Halloween. This was the first time he anticipated the holiday, knew a little about what would happen, and picked his own costume. He's a huge fan of Rescue Bots at the moment, so he decided to be Optimus Prime. As soon as the costume came--two weeks before Halloween--he started wearing every day and declaring that he was Optimus Prime.

On the big day, he donned the costume to go to a library party. He decided to "park" in the parking lot, which Bobby did not find amusing. In his defense, Optimus Prime is part truck. He hid in my office during the big party, which I suppose is a librarian's kid's prerogative.

We had a helpful hint that a nearby rich neighborhood was a great place to trick or treat. We got there a little early for the trick or treating part, as it turned out, and had to walk in a Halloween parade first. Afterwards, we were richly rewarded. Not only was there a lot of good candy and snacks, but we got to ogle some beautiful houses and enjoy the sound and smell of the ocean. X was very excited to walk up and say, "trick or treat!" at first, but after a few houses, he just started running towards the houses yelling "CANDY!!!" He walked through a haunted house twice. Ghosts and monsters do not spook this kid. When his legs wore out, Bobby, wanting more candy, carried him through another street.

He loves the idea of his candy more than the candy itself, and rarely eats more than one piece at a time. Which is no problem--Bobby and I are happy to help him with the rest!

At the library party

The parade

He was enamored with mommy the princess

Airplanes!!

This weekend was the long anticipated Kaneohe Bay Airshow. We were very disappointed that Bobby couldn't get out of work early and come, me doubly so because it meant managing X on his own. The airshow was a three year old wonderland of rides, airplanes and helicopters to climb into, and planes doing tricks in the sky. Unfortunately, X is not good at standing in lines, and I'm not good at being patient after telling him to wait his turn the 100th time. Nonetheless, he had a blast. So it was worth it.

We got to watch the Blue Angels fly for the fourth time, but first time up close. X has been watching from his daycare every day, I can see from work, and Bobby can see from our condo. I never tire of watching their carefully choreographed, awe inspiring show. Unfortunately, when it was time to sit on the tarmac and watch, X wanted to go into the C-17. Whenever the jets did a flyby, he had to run back out of the plane, and turn around and go back in when they left his line of vision. I got very tired of that, and X had a meltdown. On the plus side, you couldn't hear him scream over the jets.

Every morning, I wake up full of love for my child. By the end of the day, the tank is empty and I'm counting the minutes until bedtime. Such is life with young children, I guess.

Blue Angels from KT on Friday. I never did get a good shot of them up close. On this day, we were buzzed!

Blue Angels from work on Thursday.

Blue Angels from the flight line on Saturday.

A view of our lovely base from the ferris wheel.

Ok...Seal Team 6 is Navy, Semper Fi is Marine Corps. Come on, guys!

On a Chinook helicopter.

Okay...let's go!

Flying a FedEx plane.

A very nice Hawaiian Air pilot showing X how the plane works.

This one is a Coast Guard plane.

Free Family Day at the Honolulu Art Museum

Last Sunday, I had to remove X from the house for several hours so that Bobby could sleep between night shifts. Fortunately for us, it was free family Sunday at the Honolulu Art Museum. While it would have been nice to actually see pieces from the museum instead of darting around after X, it was nice to see him having so much fun. He loved the courtyards. It was Korean Culture Day, and he spent a decent chunk of time watching the Kpop demonstration and, later, a fan dance. It's very unusual for him to sit and watch anything, so I imagine that he was reconnecting with his roots. Later, we took the bus to Spalding House, which is a beautiful estate owned by the museum. We did not see any art or take part in any crafts, but it was worth it to sit on this breathtaking lawn and watch him roll down the hill.

Rapt at the Kpop dancers

Fan dance

Okay, we saw some art.

The pictures do not do this beautiful lawn justice.

Rolling down the hill with "the girls"

Chasing "the girls" through the garden

I'd live here

A Moment Away

Life is going on at a grinding pace. Bobby and I work almost opposite work schedules, so we're together for a few hours a day, if that. We haven't watched an entire movie together in at least a month. One of us always falls asleep partway through it. We tried to carve out some time "camping" (we don't go in for the whole tent-and-sleeping-bag thing, so we stay in cabins) for our anniversary. Unfortunately, Bobby's car is having problems again and we can't afford to fix it. He spent a decent chunk of our together time working on his car at the auto hobby shop at Hickam Air Force Base.

We avoided the young parent experience when we were in Korea. Baby in tow, we went out to all kinds of restaurants, travelled, and had tons and tons of disposable income. I suppose it's only fair that we have to struggle now like our parents did, and countless others before them.

Nonetheless, we did enjoy a wonderful weekend away from all that at one of the most beautiful places on earth, a mere 30 minutes from our condo. We swam in the ocean, played on the playground, walked the trails, and pretended we were far away. Life in paradise definitely has its upsides.

Sunrise

Walking down to the water in front of our cabin

At the beach in front of our cabin

Our cabin

looking at birds

Look! A crab!

Full moon.

Three Going on Thirty

X has been going through this annoying "do everything myself!" phase that ends with a lot of arguments. There are only so many times I can watch him try and wrench the door open before I force his hand, at which point he throws himself on the ground screaming. He knows exactly how he wants every day to go, and if it doesn't go his way, we get a typhoon.

So when his daycare auntie told me that X helped gently coax a timid boy into the splash park, my heart sang a little. Our son, with his 7am screaming fits, may be the bane of our building. But he's a good kid at heart. All else shall pass.

X cavorts at the MARFORPAC band concert

Kaneohe Friendship Gardens Redux

I think the last time we went to the Kaneohe Friendship Gardens, I had X on my back in the Ergo. No more! He hiked the entire thing by himself. It took some prodding and lots of breaks, but he was really proud of himself when he made it to the top.

It rained at first.

LOVE the socks!

Last weekend, I finally had both days off and we went to the beach together. This was a new one for us: North Beach on Marine Corps Base Hawaii. It had a nice little swimming cove.

It has been a wonderful weekend.