15/365-Silly Mama, carriers are for infants!

I know that Sass is getting bigger, but perhaps since I see her everyday I don't see it as much. Sass thought it would be fun to sit in her little friend's infant carrier to rock in, I could not believe how big she really looks in that! I swear we just recently moved her into her convertible car seat...but apparently it has been some time ago.

Here is my baby....looking very much like a little girl and not a baby at all!

14/365-___ in a box!

**WARNING, THIS POST IS NOT FOR ANYONE UNDER 18**


Hey boy I got somethin' real important to give you
So just sit down and listen
Boy you know we've been together such a long long time (such a long time)
And now I'm ready to lay it on the line
(Wooow) You know it's your birthday and my heart is open wide
Gonna give you something so you know what's on my mind
A gift real special, so take off the top
Take a look inside -- it's my ___ in a box
Not gonna get you a diamond ring
That sort of gift don't mean anything
Not gonna get you a fancy car
Boy ya gotta know you're my shining star
Not gonna get you a house in the hills
A guy like you needs somethin' real
Wanna get you somethin' from the heart
Somethin' special boy
It's my --- in a box, my --- in a box babe
It's my --- in a box, my --- in a box boy
See I'm wise enough to know when a gift needs givin' (yeah)
And I got just the one, somethin' to show ya that you are second to none
To all the ladies out there with fellas to impress
It's easy to do just follow these steps
1: Cut two holes in a box
2: Put your stuff in that box
3: Make him open the box
And that's the way you do it
It's my --- in a box... my --- in a box babe
It's my --- in a box, my --- in a box boy
Christmas; --- in a box
Hanukkah; --- in a box
Kwanzaa; a --- in a box
Every single holiday --- in a box
Over at your parent's house --- in a box
Mid day at the grocery store --- in a box
Backstage at the CMA's --- in a box (yeah-wow-wow-wow-wow-wow)
--- in a box...

AHAHHAHAAA....

Go here to get the joke...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhwbxEfy7fg&eurl=http://forum.baby-gaga.com/about517074.html


And for the pic of the day.

13/365-Down by the bay...

Ok, you can stop singing now..:)

In 7 short months we will finally be leaving Hawaii, and as I am very happy about this, in ways I will be sad. I know that is weird coming from me, but there is just a beauty to Hawaii, the way it smells, the beautiful scenery and the wonderful weather. In those ways, it will be missed.

Unfortunately, Hawaii is tainted for me, I have been bitter since I arrived here on my flight that almost crashed into the ocean...that flight foreshadowed my life for the next 3 years on this island. This last year has been great but I still hold a deep grudge and I don't feel I will fully come back to my own until I get off this island.

But as I stated previously, the beauty of this island will be missed. I absolutely love the smell of Plumeria and we have trees of bloomed flowers all over the place.....Every time we take a walk I always pick up fallen flowers, close my eyes and take in the scent...its such a beautiful smell. The perfumes and sprays do not do the flower any justice as it is probably one of my favorite smells.

I found this flower on the side of the road as we walked to the pier, one of our favorite spots to walk to. I hope you enjoy the pic!

Camera-Sony Cyvershot. The pic is straight out of the camera except for the watermark. I am very surprised I got such a nice pic from my point and shoot. The lighting was perfect. I was also surprised by the blur in the appropriate places....I am quite satisfied with this picture.

12/365-Time flies by

Sass's baby calendar was only 13 months, and it carried me to the end of Jan, but she has been changing SO much the last few weeks and I need a new calendar! I am crazy about recording all her firsts and how she is at a given age, and ever since she turned one...I stopped. I have missed a lot in the last month that I need to try and write it all down in a notebook. Tomorrow I am going to get her a new calendar!! So, my pic of the day is of the pen and her current calendar that I finished updating! *I know, a boring post, but I am tired and am going to bed early for once! WOO!

11/365-A Child's Best Friend

Sass has a new best friend. They play all day long, wrestle and even share food. Pouchy has a ton of fun with Sass, she likes to jump on her, lick her and play with her toys with her. Sass laughs hysterically when pouchy plays with her. It is the cutest sight.

Pouchy, aka as Bella, was an early Christmas gift from Hubby and she was quickly accepted as a part of our little family.

Bella is the same breed and looks very similar to my old doggy Chi-Chi. Chi-Chi was my favorite dog, she was so sweet, kind and gentle and a very loving and trusting dog. I will always miss her. Bella helps the pain of her passing, may you rest in peace Chi-Chi.

Hope you enjoy my pic of the day!


Camera-Nikon D60

10/365-You Pump me UP!

This post is easy and short (as I am doing training for a potential side job). So I just wanted to write real quick what keeps me going. Either this or regular Diet Coke....I really don't crave the regular pops (sodas) anymore. I get all the caffeine and none of the sugar and calories. Perfect! This is what also keeps me up till 2-3am! Anyway, that's it hahahaa.

9/365-3rd one is the charm

So today I did the unthinkable....something I have never done and never thought I would do...I spent more than 10 dollars on a purse! I have never been the one to get carried away and captivated by things like...purses....at least not for the prices they can sell at.

I was browsing, seeing cute purses but was standing my ground. That was until I saw THIS purse...it called to me..."buy me buy me..." How could I resist...Oh I know...I'll call hubby and he will for SURE talk me out of it.

So I call him up, as soon as he answers I say, "Hoooneeey???" "Yeeeeeeees?" is the reply I get.
"Is ___ too much for a purse?" "Yeeeesssss" was the reply I got. "Ok, you're right." then I hear what I didn't think I would ever hear. "But I know those purses you are paying for the name, and if you like it, I think you should get something you like and you want...so...go ahead and get something for yourself."

I did a mini happy dance....I couldn't believe he said YES when I thought he would say NO and I would come back to my senses....but he didn't say no, in fact, he was encouraging me to get it!

So I did...and I am in love...my coach collection is complete....3 is all I need. (2 were gifts). So for my pic of the day, my new beautiful purse!!! Enjoy!!
And as always, you can click on the pic to see it bigger.

Camera-Nikon D60

8/365-Go Itsy, Go Itsy, Go Itsy GO!

I have been teaching Sass sign language since she was 4 months old. Some days I really feel like all my efforts are wasted...seems like she just isn't that interested....but other days she surprises me with the knowledge and the comprehension she really has.

On days Sass does things, I always call up hubby to tell him, though he rarely sees Sass in action, so I am glad he was sitting on the couch to witness Sass today. I know he doesn't think I am lying, but now he could see for his own eyes.

I pull out our signing flash cards and I held up the first card. Sass immediately says, "Mooooo". The picture on the card was a cow. So even though she doesn't say cow, she makes the cow sound and will even do the cow sound when I show her the sign.

The next card I showed her was a banana, she said to me, "banana". She says banana to the object and to the sign, but has yet to sign it.

I then showed her the card that had a ball on it. This one she signed and said ball. So this one we are pretty good at. She signed and said baby for the baby card as well.

Today she even signed book for the first time, and it was the result of seeing the card with the book on it. But after this card, she decided it was enough and wanted to play.

Sass has a comprehension of over 25 words I would say, but only signs a handful of them. Mostly though, she will say the word to a sign made, and not necessarily sign it back. Which I guess in the grand scheme of things, I would rather her speak.

So for those of you who believe signing to hearing babies impair there verbal skills, yet another baby proved that theory wrong.

This post isn't to brag about what my child does, but merely state that I am glad to see my efforts weren't wasted and to say how incredible the mind of a child is, and how fast they grow. I mean, if you think about it, she was born 13 months ago, and in that SHORT amount of time, she went from a totally defendant newborn to a child who walks, talks, communicates and shows a lot of comprehension and understanding to the world around her that is so new. How they do it in such a short amount of time is so amazing to me.

So for my pic of the day, I decided to take a picture of the cards Sass and I used today.

And if you are wondering about my title...that is the song Sass and I sang and signed today. :)

7/365-Welcome home!

About 14 months ago, the unit I was assigned to left for Iraq, and with them most everyone I have met since being on this island. I would have been on that flight too, if it weren't for Sass.

Well today we welcomed home 3 of the Soldier's from my office back, one came in yesterday. They are now back with their families, ready to begin the journey of catching up and re familiarizing themselves into an everyday routine that many of us take for granted. They will be able to see their spouses, children, eat a decent meal and not worry about being shot at.

God Bless them all and WELCOME HOME!!

This is going to be short because I am off to bed. But please enjoy my pic of the day, Sass and hubby at the ceremony.

And again, welcome back guys...Thank you for all you do!

Camera-Nikon D60 (the pic was blurry...boo)

6/365-'Till death do us part

My wedding set is simple and gorgeous...Just what I have always wanted. Hubby picked out my engagement ring on his own and he did a fantastic job. We picked out my wedding band together. I always wore my rings, I loved showing the world I was taken, and by a wonderful man, my best friend.

In May of 2007 we found out we were expecting...what a blessing. Along with that blessing though came a substantial weight gain. My fingers swelled like little sausages...well...I retained water like it was going out of style. But my point it, I gained a lot so I was unable to wear my wedding set because of the weight gain.

After I had Sass, I lost about 30lbs just leaving the hospital....I was anxious to put my rings back on...I couldnt even get them over the knuckle. So I held out....I lost some more weight...nope. A couple months ago I slipped on the wedding band...it was snug, but it went all the way down. Time to put on my other ring....I couldnt get it down. Not because of the band size, but because the first ring I put on created this "bubble" like effect on my finger in between the two bands...There was no way to get them together.

What is funny is my fingers looked normal to me..they didn't look puffy or swollen, yet they obviously were bigger because my rings did not fit. Everyone kept telling me to get them resized. I refused because I WOULD lose the weight and they would fit again, then I would just have to get them resized. So I held out.

I have now lost all pregnancy weight, even though I am not to my goal weight, I decided today to try on my rings as I do periodically......and to my surprise...THEY FIT! Both of them...at the same time...I can wear them comfortably around my finger...They slide easily and I was so excited you would have thought I just won the lottery! So after roughly a little over a year and a half (counting pregnancy) I can FINALLY wear my rings!!!! So you guessed it...thats my pic of the day!!

Nikon-D60

5/365-Furry faces, funny places

First and foremost, Happy 13 months Sass!

My little girl is already 13 months...this last month since her 1st B-day just flew by. It kind of crept up on me. So much has changed in one month, it is amazing.

Today she learned to walk backwards. She laughs hysterically over everything, now including this new discovery. We notice she gets delirious when tired, her balance is the first to go. She starts acting very silly, making funny sounds, faces, falling over things on purpose, running back and forth, throwing herself onto things...she is crazy!

Tonight was one of those nights that she got the silly bug. Daddy bought her a giant pink pig for Valentine's Day and she loves this pig..just LOVES it. She eats it, carries it around, falls on it, wrestles and kisses it...it is her new best friend. Bella, our pooch, also loves this gigantic pink stuffed pig. All three play for long stretches at a time...Bella jumps on Sass, Sass jumps on the pig, then they all fall over and go at it again. Bella has so much fun playing with Sass and Pig, it truly is amusing watching them play. We had so much fun tonight, it truly made my day. My daughter's smile and laughter brings such joy to my heart. She is such an amazing little person with such a big and bright personality. So for my picture on her 13 month B-day, I thought I would take a pic of her two best friends (she has three, but Cat isn't so much into their hi jinks). Hope you enjoyed!

Nikon-D60

4/365-Puffs are for babies!

I remember breaking up the Gerber star shaped snacks called puffs for Sass not long ago. "Be careful baby, you can choke...eat slowly." Seems I couldn't break them apart carefully yet quickly enough for her. She devoured them and they were gone.

I remember having a discussion in my January mom group about how ludicrous the serving size is, like 80 puffs....that seemed like a LOT for a baby to eat. At that age Sass only ate a small handful at best.

She goes from eating a few halved puffs to cramming two fists full of puffs in her mouth, seemingly all at the same time. She loves puffs, there wasn't a day she didn't have her snack of choice. She especially liked the apple strawberry, peach and cherry. They even started selling them in a whole wheat variety. Awesome.

Today I sat Sass in her highchair and gave her a few puffs to snack on while I fixed her dinner. She looked at me like, "What is this you are trying to give me? PUFFS? Are you serious? Mom, that was sooo last month. In case you haven't noticed, I am not an "infant" anymore....geez."

When did this happen? I already had to get over the fact she walks everywhere she goes now, she talks to me, she asks for things she wants pretty clearly, but I just don't think I was ready to get rid of puffs....These are PUFFS for goodness sakes, her FAVORITE snack....I guess not anymore. She quickly "windshield wipered" them off her tray. Bella, our little pooch sure enjoyed their cherry, crispity goodness.

So I am sad to announce Sass has walked away from her favorite "baby" snack and is on the move to more "big girl" snacks. And with that, I hope you enjoy today's picture...

R.I.P Puffs...


Nikon D60

3/365-President's Day

Happy President's Day world!


So I want to tell you a little about my Grandpa. First off, he is the only Grandpa I have and I guess I can honestly say he is the only male figure I had in my life growing up.

This man is the funniest man I have ever met. He always has jokes and he loves to tell stories about when he was in the Navy. Every visit with him he tells me the story of the time he was almost considered AWOL when he ran out of money on one of his liberty passes and how he had to go to the Great Lakes base to have them inform his post he hasn't deserted anyone. All this because finance messed up his pay. As far as finance goes, I see nothing has changed. But he will tell this story every time and as perfectly as the time before that. I happily sit there and listen to him recall his experiences.

He sure loves Sass too. We went to Michigan to visit when she was going on 6 months old, and he was just so tickled by her.. He really enjoyed holding her and playing games with her that my Grandma had to make a statement that he was "hogging" her. I call often lately and my Grandma always tells me that he speaks to Sass's picture everyday. She is sitting on his table by where he sits...she eats dinner with them sometimes too.

I hope I never have to see the day when they pass, for I will miss him with all my heart and I will long to hear his stories of when he was in the Navy, but unfortunately I think that time will be in my near future, and that is something that I can not bear to think of.

My Grandpa wanted to get Sass a gift she could keep and cherish, something that she can look back on and remember her Great-Grandpa by, even if she has no physical memory of him. He bought her two coin sets. One of the state quarters that include 2 states of importance. Hawaii state where she was born, and Oklahoma state where hubby is from. He also got her the set of 1 dollar coins, the set that had President James Madison in it. He put a lot of thought into his gift and I was surely touched.

I am hoping Sass will be able to meet her Great-Grandpa again in the near future. Those two have such a special bond and she doesn't even know it yet.

So I decided that this President's Day, my 365 picture shall be of the coin set my Grandpa gave to Sass as a gift. I hope you enjoyed this blog. Thank you for reading.

Camera-Nikon D60

2/365-"I wish I could have a gun"

So this post will be full of pictures....I am not real clear on the rules of projects like these, if there are rules that is, but there is more than one pic today. Some days may be just one but...that's not today so....moving along.

Today Sass and I were supposed to go to the beach down at Bellows. It was going to be a fun day of digging in the sand, catching some rays and floating in the water....none of which happened...

Hubby went paint balling today and at 9:00 in the morning, he says the skies are blue and the weather is perfect. Sass gets a little nap, and after some slight delays with packing, we were off.

As I neared Bellows, clouds loomed over me and sprinkles began falling on my windshield...this did not seem like beach weather.

Sass and I met up with hubby at Subway, it was windy, cold and rainy. We ate and decided to head back to his car that was parked in Honolulu. As we drove, the rain beat down harder, I was sad we didn't get to play on the beach. But this leads me to picture number 1.

As we drove farther away from the beach the clouds spread out and the sun began to shine. Hubby suggested I take the next left on the road we were following. We pulled into a narrow street that was lined with cars. We pull into a vacant spot and unload Sass....we were going to walk up the mountain....I was in beach attire, as I soon realized I wouldn't be the only one, apparently half naked was acceptable...but I digress...I was wearing flip flops, surely not suitable for walking up a steady incline but, we were there, we wanted something to do, so we went for it.

We got Sass loaded up in her stroller, she definitely got the sweeter end of the deal, and we walked towards the mountain. It was fairly busy on the Sunday afternoon, the weather was nice until the wind started picking up again. Hubby explained to me that there was a wind advisory this weekend, it was even more apparent the further up the mountain we went. Here are a couple pictures. I guess the pic of me doesn't count toward the project as I didn't personally take it...but I am sharing anyway. Consider it a bonus...:) All others pictures that I am not included in, were taken by me.

Finally we get to the half way point and the wind really starts picking up. Poor Sass was trying to shield herself from the wind. She had a blanket on her and I took the beach towel I brought around the front of her stroller so it would keep the wind out of her face. She, however, didn't like that because then she couldn't see every passing "dog" (and there was a lot) and to make sure she pointed it out to us. My child loves dogs..:) I decided to take a self-portrait while the wind was blowing.

Almost there.....we come across this nice little photo-op.


So finally we reached the top, we were thirsty, tired and our calves were on fire. Now it was time to see the view that we walked over a mile uphill and pushing a stroller with a 25 pound toddler inside for.

The first pic obviously wasn't taken by me, but I had to show it off. Sass always makes the funniest expressions. It sure was windy at the top.

The way down was much faster than the way up, imagine that! :) The sun and mist caused a bright haze over the side of the mountain. The camera picked it up, but didn't look as pretty as it did in real life. Perhaps that is because we only had the point and shoot with us today. But here it is.

So now some of you may be wondering about my title.....what in the world does this have to do about guns?? So on to the story...

As we were making our way back down the mountain (and almost being trampled by little kids no older than 6 while the parents walked quite a bit ahead leaving them to run ramped behind them...but whatever..) we came up to a woman walking with her little son. I noticed her walking up the mountain when we were because on the back of her shirt it said, "Anti-terrorist Instructor". So as we were passing them, I hear the little boy say, "Mom....I wish I had a gun. Because then I could hurt the bad guys...." The kid can't be any older that three.....I don't know...her son's statement combined with her shirt just made me laugh. Perhaps her son can sit in the next class she instructs. I couldn't resist....we got a picture! I pulled off the side of the trail and made an excuse so that they could pass us after I heard the little boy tell his mom how and why he wished he could have a gun. So hubby happily took our picture.

Thank you for reading Day 2.
Camera-Sony Cybershot

1/365-Day one, V-day!

Today is day 1 of Project 365. I am excited about this project as I have always had an interest in photography and I am hoping to grow in that area as well as see a whole year in a few pictures. I am going to attempt to make my pictures diverse, though I have to warn you, there will be a lot of my daughter, who online I call Sass. So I think the rules are, take one pic a day...well....some days there may only be one but I like to shake things up a bit. There might be more than one some days...but maybe I can try to make it of one subject? We'll see I guess. Maybe no more than 5 a day? I do however, like the idea of just one....oh what to do?

Photography has always been a passion of mine, I am often called the paparazzi by my friends because I go everywhere with my camera.

Recently I have decided to take my photography a step forward and I am branching out to become an actual photographer. I lovingly have the support of my husband and I can't be more excited. This journey will be hard and challenging, but that is half the fun. I am excited to have a "job" that I love! How many people can say that?

I chose to start off with pictures of my daughter on Valentine's Day. We had a wonderful day as a family. We went to the park, we played and laughed all day, not to mention we had a fantastic dinner of steak on the grill, shrimp scampi, baked potatoes and salad. Home cooking at its finest.

I believe the hardest part of this challenge/project is to post everyday...not the taking of pictures. So I will try my hardest!

For the most part I will be using my Nikon D60, I love that camera, never fails to take excellent pictures. But we also have a point and shoot Sony Cybershot that might be a little easier to take along for everyday doings.

Anyway, please enjoy the pictures of day 1-365


The first 2 are a couple of PS graphics I made :)

CAMERA-Nikon D60