Silent Sunday

The Girls at White Beach

April 2009

New Friend Ettiqute

I made a new friend the other day! While my enthusiam about this may seem silly to some of you I assure it is not.When you are military wife and move around like we do making friends is like finding the golden ticket. I met her while I was feeding my girls a healthy breakfast of doughnuts and chocolate milk at Dunkin Donuts. Our power was out and it turns out hers was as well. We chatted for a long time. So long that the girls grew restless and threatened mutiny if I didn't shut up so we could leave. The best part is that I scored her number and information.

As I was driving away basking in the glory of a new found friendship I was suddenly conflicted. I have never traded information with another Mom like that and I have no idea what to do now. Do I call her or wait for her to call me? How long should I wait to call? What do I say when I call? I doubt "hey remember me the crazy long winded lady from Dunkin Donuts" would go over very well. Do I invite her and her children here or suggest we meet at a neutral location? If I do invite her over here what should we do? Should I plan a before or after lunch playdate? What should I wear and dress the girls in when the get-together occurs?

I am sure I am making a bigger deal out of this than I need to but I have no idea about New Friend Etiquette. All of the other Mom friends I have made have been neighbors, fellow church members or part of a playgroup. In other words people who are forced to see me on a semi-regular basis so they can not avoid being friends with me. This is all new territory for me and I am not sure how to proceed.

The closest thing I can reference is dating but I was always the one giving my number then!

For Daddy

Daddy I love you. I miss you and I wish you were here. This is a picture of me at the museum. I am with a baby chick in an egg. It is not really real it is just big. I am pretending to feed the chick - silly huh? I had fun at the museum and I think we should go together when you get home. Then you can see the baby chick too and see me dress up. I like playing at the museum, it is really fun. I wish we could go together right now.

Love Bubba

Reason #12 Why I Miss My Hubby

He makes me laugh.
The best thing about my husband is his sense of humor next to his devastatingly good looks of course. I love that he can make me laugh like no one else. Maybe it is because we both have a sarcastic sense of humor. Somehow he makes even the most boring things fun and humorous. He is also very good at making laugh at myself - whether I want to or not.
I miss sharing funny things and moments with him. I find myself running around with the girls and thinking "Brandon would find that hilarious!" and wishing I could share whatever it is with him. Things are so much funnier when he is with me!

Swim Lessons

On a whim I signed the girls up for swim lesson 2 weeks ago. After taking them to the pool for the first time alone I realized they both need swim lessons - for very different reasons.

Bella is and always has been scared of the water. She has never enjoyed getting wet or getting water anywhere near her eyes. I always thought she would outgrow her ridiculous fear and enjoy swimming like I do. I was wrong. Taking her into the big pull is like pulling teeth. She has to wear a life jacket and even then she clings to the wall the entire time. She is terrified to go down any of the slides with or without her life jacket. The upside of this fear is that she is totally content to spend all of her time in the baby pool with Evie and I.

Evie on the other hand loves the water. She can't get enough of the pool or the ocean. She has no fears of water and will jump right in without even blinking. I learned this the hard way on our first trip to the pool. She headed over to the deep baby pool and jumped right in. Of course I pulled her out within seconds and was scared to death. Evie was just laughing hysterically about it. I should also note that when I related that story to my husband I received a lecture about not watching Evie better. I was watching her! She is very fast and I had no idea she would even attempt something like that! I bought a little floaty jacket just in case she tried it again.

Swim lessons have been interesting. Bella spent half of the first lesson sitting on the edge of the pool refusing to get in. She only got in after I bribed her with a treat - it was my last resort but hey it worked. After her first lessons she decided she liked her teacher and declared he was "cute". Apparently being cute in her book means she trusts you and will listen to you. In case you are wondering I am not cute or trustworthy in the water. If I try to help she just screams so her teacher is lucky he is cute. She has slowly warmed up and is now willing to put her head under water and do back floats for her teacher. She even followed him into the deep end of the pool today. She had her life jacket on and clung to the wall the entire time but she went. We are coming to the end of her lessons and while there is no way she is ready for the next level she is a little less fearful of the water which is wonderful. I am going to put her in one more session of swim classes this summer. I just want her to relax enough that she can have fun in the water!

Evie and I are doing a parent child swim class. Of course Evie loves her swim lessons. She had a few cranky days but if the sun is out she is more than happy to swim. She does not like when it is cloudy and will spend the entire swim lesson telling me "I cold! I need a t-oww t-oww! (her way of saying towel)" She has finally warmed up to her teacher and loves when she holds her and sings the songs. She no longer cries when we go under water and loves to jump in the pool to me. I plan on putting her in another session as well mostly because I am not sure what we would do otherwise. She is at the phase that she needs to do everything Bella is.

I am hoping that after another session of swim lessons they will be a little bit easier to handle at the pool!

The Offending Carousel Ride

After Bella's post for her Daddy I am sure you are all wondering about the offending carousel ride. My friend Ann and I decided that we did not want to walk all the way down and feed the fish so we walked around with Evie. Our route just happened to take us past the carousel and since Evie didn't get to feed the fish I decided to let her ride the carousel. She promised not to tell her sister and I figured all was well. My fatal mistake was asking Ann to video the carousel ride. In my defense it was Evie's first so I wanted to record it. When I was downloading the videos Bella saw it and if you couldn't tell she was a little upset!

Please excuse the wobbliness of the video. It was raining and Ann was getting a little motion sick from watching us. Oh and if you are wondering Evie is crying "Ms. Ann" every time she sees her. Maybe it would make Bella feel better if she knew Evie didn't like the carousel ride but I doubt it!

Silent Sunday

Tia Pam (with Dutch in her tummy) and Bella

February 2008