Her and the puppy

Sweet video

The joy that a child brings

So as you all know by now I am a crazy for pictures. I'm a scrapbooker what do you expect??? So the other day I took some adorable pics of Kara that I had to share. In just a 15 minute timespan I managed to get all of these different looks that she does. They are some of my favorite pics so far. I love my baby girl!!! The monkey face!
She's a happy girl!
See, I told you!
Looks like she's say, "Enough mom!"
I feel pretty oh so pretty...
Look at that lip poking out.
In deep thought
The cutest one. Wow, I am cute aren't I??

The dreaded day has come

So after weeks of dreading this day, it has come and gone. Today I watched my husband leave for yet another deployment. This is his 7th one, I believe, in the last nine years. Granted I haven't been around for those full nine years, only six, but it has been a long road. I hate every time he leaves. No, it doesn't get any easier, if anything it gets harder. I used to never worry about him when he was gone. I danced around in my little happy world where everything was wonderful. Sad to say, life has changed me in to somewhat of a pessimist. I am now worried. Worried that something will happen to him, that he will be there longer than he was told, and worse that he won't return. I hate that I have to even think that way. He assured me that he has a great crew and that bad things haven't happened in a long time to his plane. As sweet as it was of him to tell me these things, it didn't help much, a little, but not much. I guess it's normal to worry about your husband/spouse (or son/daughter) in times like these. I am going to try my hardest to get that positivity back in my life. To see the glass half full rather than half empty. You see I have to do this because I now have a child to look after. She is my number one priority and I have to make her happy. I want her to see the world as a good place. I want her to know that in times like these we have to take the good out of it and roll with it. So let's see what's good about it?? The money, Nick's career, hmmm....... The money?? Oh I already said that. I am trying to use this time to think about what I want out of life. He has been asking me where I would want to live if we weren't in the military anymore? Somewhere colder!!! Truth is I don't really know. I think I want to be a teacher, but again I don't know. Maybe these next few months will enlighten me in some way. That's what I am hoping for anyway. It's challenging, but I guess I am up for it. I hope you all had a nice 4th of July. I will have to post some pics later of ours. We had a nice time. Nothing much else has been going on here. I went to a Japanese clothing store today (after dropping him off) and got three shirts. That was kind of cool until I realize that Kara's diaper had leaked onto my shirt. Yeah, that was the second time she had christened me for the day. Nothing like pee on your jeans and poop on your shirt. But I wouldn't trade those funny moments for anything. I find humor in moments like that. My sweet child was so silly today. She wouldn't wake up to tell Nick goodbye. I think she was vetoing the idea of it. As soon as we returned to the parking garage she was awake and happy. I wonder when she's going to realize her daddy is gone??? Thinking about it breaks my heart. They have a really special bond already. You can just see the joy they bring each other when he's holding her. It is truly indescribable but a beautiful thing to watch. I will miss seeing that. I can't wait to be able to introduce them back to each other. Gotta go now I am depressing myself. Hope you all had a nice weekend.

Some Japanese finds and thanks

So I know that I complain a lot about how the shopping here is awful and they don't have anything cool, but I have found a cool store that is pretty awesome. I don't know the name of it, only that there's a bunny on the sign, so I refer to it as just that "the bunny store". It is strictly a children's store and it is pretty cheap. Somehow I managed to only spend $50 this last visit and this is what I got:

Here are three outfits that I had to get Kara. Two are little sun suits and the other is a cherry pant suit. I have some weird obsession with clothes with fruit on them. I think they are so adorable. Luckily for me the Japanese seem to have the same obsession. Cherries, strawberries, and watermelon everywhere!!!
Here are some sleepers, a pillow (which I think will be good for travel), and some little tank tops. I got most things in 12 months size (they have a conversion chart) because she has so many in 6 months size. Notice the cherries on the tanks. Love it!!! The cat on the pillow is named Marie, from Walt Disney's Aristocats movie. They have that cat everywhere. I think I like stuff with her on it because my cat, Chloe is white with blue eyes too!
Not too long ago, my friend Amy brought over this adorable outfit for Kara. Yes, it's a watermelon outfit. I think it is so cute. It was funny she got it without knowing my obsession for fruit clothing. Thanks Amy!!!
Amy also got Kara her first kimono and little Chinese outfits. Aren't they adorable? I can't wait until she fits in them to take some pics. The kimono has little fish all over it. You can click on it to enlarge it. What's a baby born in Japan without a kimono of her own? :)

Orange!!!

Okay so I decided to join in on the fun of Brenda's photo challenge. Sorry I am late, I have a baby as my excuse. LOL The color is Orange, my least favorite color in the world. Therefore it was pretty hard for me to find anything orange in my house, but I did manage. And you must know this isn't my best photography, but I was in a hurry!! So here you go...

This is the shirt I bought last Halloween. I know sounds a bit like I am full of myself (couldn't be farther from the truth), but I swear I bought it because of Casper rather than what is says. Cute huh?

Here's some of my hair products that I use. It's called got 2 b crazy sleek. You use it before you flat iron your hair. I adore my chi iron; this stuff is supposed to help you save your hair from damage it may cause. Here's one of my daughter's hand rattles (I know I was grasping for anything orange). The pic came out terribly blurry, but I am too darn lazy to try to find something to take a pic of at the moment. Forgive me, I will do better next week....

So proud

For those of you who haven't read it on my mother in laws blog, I want to share our awesome news......Nick made Tech Sergeant!! We have been waiting to hear for weeks and are so excited. We were trying to decide weather staying in the Air Force was for us or not and I guess we now have our answer. It would be hard to get out with him have made more rank. He made it sooner than most people do in their careers. He's put on 5 stripes in 10 years, which I think is pretty impressive. I gave him a card that read Impressive on the front and said But not surprising. It was too perfect. I knew he would make it. He wasn't convinced until he read the results. He let out a noise, which scared me half to death (I was in another room). Kara and I got him a cake and new game to congratulate him. The extra money will be so great.

Nick, I am proud of you baby! I knew you could do it. Always remember that I believe in you. I love you so much!!!

Family pictures

Before Maddy left I wanted us to get family portraits taken, against Nick and Maddy's wishes. Luckily the BX had some people there advertising pictures so I took them up on their offer. No the weren't cheap, quite expensive, but worth it. Of course when we got there Kara was hungry, even though I had fed her a little before we left, and was screaming her lungs out. Somehow the guy managed to get pics without her looking mad. If you enlarge the family pic you will see her mouth is open, quite hilarious. She was only 2 weeks in these pics, she is now over 2 months. I can't believe it. Time goes by so quick. Maddy is now gone and Nick will be leaving us in a little over a week. Crazy stuff in this place, a lot of adjustments. I hope it doesn't drive me crazy. Anyway, sorry I haven't been visiting you guys blogs, actually I have some, but haven't been leaving comments. I will soon.

Father's day pics

So Father's day was almost over and I realized we didnt' get any pics of Nick with Kara. They were playing on the bed and I captured these moments. Melts my heart <3

Them watching T.V. She got that from him!
Just hanging out
Daddy loves his baby!

She's laughing at him!
My favorite pic!
Playing together

What's with all the pictures, mommy?
Staring at each other
Giving daddy kisses, how cute!

Saying goodbye

It wasn't easy saying "goodbye" to Maddy or my mom last Thursday. My mom came to visit and stayed for about2 1/2 weeks. She came to meet Kara and to take Maddy back to Florida for us. The time she was here went by pretty quick. I felt bad she had to leave knowing she wasn't going to see her grandaughter for another 6 months.

Those 2 weeks were filled with all kinds of events. We tried to do all the things we wanted to do with Maddy before she left. We still manage to miss a few things but overall did the main things. I knew I would be sad but I didn't think it would hit me as hard as it did. The first time I broke down was while I was packing Maddy's bag. Everyone else was down stairs and I was upstairs packing it all. I had to go to the bathroom to get myself together. Then the night before they left, I was up all night dreading the next day. It was huge cry fest at the airport. People probably thought we were nuts, but it was VERY sad.

I will miss Maddy. I got so used to having her here that I couldn't imagine going back to life without her. Sure I won't miss the kids knocking on my door all afternoon(which made the dogs go nuts)or stuff being everywhere, but I will miss the joy she brought to our house. I haven't had to be alone in our house for the last year and it was so nice. Nick goes on a lot of trips, so I used to be alone a lot. Luckily I won't have to be alone ever again because of my baby girl. I know she will keep me entertained while Nick is gone, but I am sure I will want someone to talk to every once in a while that talks back. When Nick went on his trips Maddy and I would have "girl nights". We would rent movies and drink hot chocolate. She used to scrapbook with me. I couldn't have been more proud that she enjoyed something that I love to do. She made 3 books while she was here. She even started using more than one kind of paper on her pages, "to be more professional" like me (she would say). We also played hair/massage shop. She would put my hair up in all these crazy ways(the spider was the best). She has actually done that with me since she was 3 years old. The massage part just started this last year. She came up with all different methods (like using a pencil or karate chops), but you were lucky if it lasted 2 minutes. She is a very entertaining child and I will miss her dearly.