Quinn's Party and Odette Is a Crawler!!!

Today was a long, but fun day!

I was planning on waking up at 5 or 5:30 to get ready, but after I got up to nurse Odette at who knows what time of the night, I finally got back into bed at about 3:30...and when the alarm went off, I snoozed a lot...and then fell back asleep and didn't wake up until 6!!!

Abilehi had been planning on showering at 6:15 (she had spent the night), so I quickly got up and showered in about 5 minutes...shaved my legs, too! It was a world record!  Well, I didn't wash my hair, so that cut down on the time I needed to spend in the shower.

So I got dressed, then got the girls' stuff ready. At 7:00, we got the girls up, got them dressed, and we were out the door by 7:40...ten minutes later than we'd hoped, but still in good time.

The girls did really well on the drive to San Antonio. Alegria watched movies and Odette played with her hands and some toys. Abilehi and I talked.

When we got to San Antonio, Abilehi treated us to breakfast at McDonald's. Alegria, of course, wanted to go play on the play set right away, so off she went.

Then she came to eat...and that's when it happened! I should have thought to take her to the potty as soon as we got our food ordered...DUH! She'd not gone pee all night, hadn't needed to pee before we left...so of COURSE I should have thought to take her to go pee as soon as we got out of the car! Poor thing wet her pants COMPLETELY as she was about to eat her breakfast!!! So I went to change her panties and pants.  Thankfully I had Alegria in some legging-type pants, so the leakage onto the chair was minimal and Abilehi cleaned that up while I cleaned Alegria up.  Then she went back to play.

Finally we went to the Temple and Abilehi went in first. I stayed in the car with the girls. We had only been playing for a few minutes when Alegria told me she was all wet. I looked and sure enough she was wet. Not as bad as before, but still. Apparently she hadn't emptied her bladder the first time! So I gathered the girls and the diaper bag and we went to the Distribution Center. I took Alegria's pants and panties off and had her sit on the potty while I changed Odette's diaper. Luckily, Alegria went pee some more. Boy, she had a full bladder! Then we got her into the last pair of dry panties I had...as well as another pair of pants.  I'm thankful I had packed legging-type pants for her so leakage in case of accidents was minimal, if any, which this second time there wasn't.

Then we went to the front of the Temple where the water was and Alegria and Odette just played.

Abilehi came out not too long after. She went to the Distribution Center, but it was so nice in the shade where I was, that I decided to stay with the girls right there. Well...Alegria was venturing too far away from me and I kept having to tell her to stay close by. Finally, I told her that if she didn't stay where I was, we'd go back to the car...and then she looked at me deliberately, defiantly...and walked down the stairs to the waterfall area!!! So I went and told her that she didn't listen to me or stay where I was, so we were leaving to go to the car. I had to pretty much drag Alegria as she screamed for me to "Let go my hand!" Embarassing, but I had to follow through. We went to the Distribution Center, where I quickly told Abilehi we were going back to the car...and when we got to the car, I turned it on for the AC and told Alegria she could either come in or stay in the hot sun. She stayed in the hot sun.

Abilehi came and I went into the Temple. 

When I was done, we drove to the Distribution Center for a last potty break. When we got there, Alegria said she had to go potty, but she'd already gotten a little pee on her panties...so since I had no more panties, I had to resort to putting a pull-up on her...the only one I had. I told her that she needed to stay dry, though.

On the way home, I sat in the back to nurse Odette. The girls fell asleep pretty fast. And then I followed suit, I had asked Abilehi if she'd be ok if I dozed and she said she would. Thank godness! I was so tired!

We got home, changed Odette (she'd had a blowout...though not too bad), got dressed into regular non-church clothes, and waited for Alegria to go potty. One she'd peed, we got her ready, too, and went to Kerri's place on Post.

Alegria had fun jumping in the bounce house and playing with her friends.

Quinn, the birthday boy and Alegria:

All the little friends had a nice dinner together, too:

When I asked Alegria if she liked her popcorn, she decided to show it to me:

Playing with one of Quinn's dinosaur toys:

Odette had fun, too, sitting in the grass, at the table, and walking a little...with my help, of course. :)

We all chatted, too. At one point, it looked like Alegria needed to let loose, so I quickly took her to the bathroom...and that ended that attempt of hers...but I told her that she needed to stay dry and if she needed to go potty, to tell me.

Group picture time!

Odette actually sat and didn't cry or try to take her party hat off!

Finally it was time for cake!  Kerri did an AWESOME job on Quinn's elephant-theme party cake!

The birthday boy, soon to turn 2!

Singing to the birthday boy!

Kerri and Quinn:

Eating cake:

Playing while we had cake:

Alegria led this little mischief of eating the ice!

When we were about to leave, I realized the presents hadn't been opened yet, so then Quinn opened his presents.

It was a little past 7 when we finally left.

We got home and I took Alegria's pants off, to let her go potty at her leisure. And she was a big girl and went number 2 again in the potty all by herself!!! I'm so proud of her!!! :)

I nursed Odette and then I gave the girls a bath. After Alegria was all done, I noticed Odette was getting into position to crawl, so I egged her on and she totally crawled from the wall opposite Alegria's bed to me (I was leaning against the bed)!!! I was so proud of her!!! I kept trying to get her to crawl again, but Alegria kept distracting her, but I finally got about 15 seconds of it recorded to show Cameron! Our little Odie is getting so big!!! (I had music on my phone to entice her to try to crawl to my phone in front of me, side-view, so you could see her little legs moving! She went the wrong way than I was hoping, not enticed by the phone after all, but you could still see her legs from front-view moving. :)

She was in bed by 9:20. Then I finally got Alegria to bed at about 9:45.

Then Abilehi left.

I fed the dog and fish, put a load of laundry to wash, got ready for bed, and then came here...

*sigh*

Ever since the beginning of potty training, it's been quite the journey.  Some days we have no accidents whatsoever.  Today was not one of those days.  But even though we had some accidents, we also had successes.  With time, Alegria will be an expert...and so will I at remembering to take her to the potty after 2.5 hours in a car!!!  :)

And now it's off to bed!

Gute Nacht, Meine Liebe Freunde!!!  :)

Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

Our day was tiring and a little sad...

I got up at 5, got ready, got our bags ready, and then got the girls up at 6:30 and got them ready and we left by 7:01. Neither Alegria nor Odette were in happy moods when I got them up that early, though. They were both crying/whining at first when I got them up, but thankfully I was magically able to get them to stop. :)

We arrived right on time for the deployment ceremony to start. Someone spoke and I thought it was actually pretty neat to hear them talk about how these particular soldiers (all combat medics) were going to go out there to make sure that our soldiers that are fighting the war are taken care of. I can't remember exactly what was said, but I liked knowing that there are those out there who, though they don't fight, necessarily, are willing to risk their lives to try to save the lives of those that are fighting the battles. The National Anthem was played and the Army song was sung. It lasted all of 10-15 minutes.  You can't see Ryan in this picture...he was at the far left.

After the ceremony, they had the soldiers draw their weapons and then the soldiers got to come back to be with their families.  And then there was waiting...

The McFarlands:

They had snacks for everyone and they gave flags out, too. The girls did pretty well.

When I handed a flag to Odette, she grabbed a hold of it in such a way that it looked like she was praying!

Odette: "Dear God, please bring Daddy, Uncle Ryan, and all of the soldiers home safe.  And God, please bless America.  Amen."

Waiting to board the buses...and then it's so cute...Ryan signed "I love you" to Abilehi as he walked off to get onto the bus:

We followed the buses to the West Fort Hood gym and waited some more.

They had free stuff there that they were giving out to the families of the soldiers. The girls again did pretty well. Alegria even went potty in the public restroom! Odette had a DumDum lollipop for the first time...and loved it!

She got some in her hair, though, and it made for a funny hairdo!!! :)

Alegria and Odette are so cute together!

They were even giving out free Girl Scout cookies!  Alegria loved those (can you see the chocolatey remains on her face?)!

Alegria just played and played and played:

And Odette took a nap in her carrier.  Here she'd just woken up:

Boy, I was so sad for Abilehi and Ryan today. When we first arrived this morning, I was feeling a little sad because I was sad that Alegria was having to say goodbye for a third time to a man in her life...first her Daddy twice and now her Uncle Ryan. And then just seeing Abilehi, her eyes red from crying and so sad...it made me even more sad. And so I got teary-eyed...

Throughout the day, I would catch them in tender moments and almost cry again...their faces so sad!  

Young married couples shouldn't have to go through a separation like that so soon!!! I know they knew what they were getting into...but still! Poor Abilehi and Ryan!!! :(

In this last picture of Abilehi watching Ryan go sit with the other soldiers, her shoulders hunched...her gaze longing...it was sooooo heartbreaking!!!

Then it was time to move outside...

Just one more kiss...!

We finally left at about 2. We dropped Abilehi off at her car. Alegria had fallen asleep pretty much as soon as we got her in her car seat...Odette fell asleep shortly after.

By the time we got home, both girls were still so sound asleep and I didn't want to disturb them, so I also dozed in the car for a little bit after making a quick phone call.

At 3:30, Alegria woke up, and woke Odette up, so we all went inside. I nursed Odette and Alegria ended up crashing on the floor again. So Odette and I played.

When I finally got Alegria to wake up again, it was 4:30. We played in Odette's room a little...and Odette even crawled a tiny bit!!! 

She already gets around so well with just scooting and sitting herself back up...and soon she'll be crawling all over the place!!! AND today she was standing at the entertainment center a little and holding herself up pretty well for a good while...but then she fell on her butt and then on her back, though, and cried for a tiny bit, but I just helped her up and told her that as she starts standing more and learning to walk, that she'll fall a lot more, but that she just has to get back up!!!

Odette was in bed by 7:30. Abilehi showed up right after I came out of Odette's room. We had some dinner, chatted, looked at the pictures and videos of the day, and then I got Alegria into bed by 10:30. Then Abilehi emailed Ryan while I fed the animals and then got ready for bed. Now I'm done emailing Cameron and then it's off to bed for me...

Cameron called as we were waiting with Abilehi and Ryan today.  I'm so thankful for him and all he does for us.  I'm grateful for the love he has for me.  I feel like the most loved woman in the world because of him! 

Seeing Abilehi and Ryan today made me appreciate Cameron even more for the sacrifices that he makes to make our world a better place to live.  Yes, Abilehi and Ryan will miss each other and it's sad, them being such a newly-wed couple having to be separated for such a lengthy period of time so soon...but on the flip-side, though Cameron and I have been married longer, not only does he have to miss me, but also Alegria and Odette.  Cameron has missed out on the last 30 weeks of Odette's life (she's only been alive for 41), and though he barely knows her, he loves her beyond measure.  It doesn't get any easier for anyone...but someone's got to make the sacrifices and I'm proud to have two very brave men in my family who will take up that cross and bear it.