The Plane Ride

We made it! Sorry I haven't posted in a while, we were staying in a hotel and didn't have Internet. Now we are in our house and getting settled. So I will catch you up to speed. The trip wasn't too bad. Olivia did very well. She slept most of the time. The plane was HUGE! So we could walk around with her throughout the trip. And everyone loved her, other passengers even offered to hold her for us! Jill did well too. She was nervous and all but didn't escape from her cage, which is a plus. We had little TVs in the backs of the seats in front of us, so we could watch movies, play games, or watch the GPS screen of the flight track. So that helped pass the time of the 14 hour plane ride. We left Atlanta at 10:15 AM Thursday August 22, we got to Okinawa around 10 PM Friday August 23rd.

Here we go!

One of the in-flight meals. Came with a complimentary glass of wine! And Chopsticks!

"Are we there yet?!"

We went for a walk around the plane, came back and daddy was sleeping like this:

Big plane, three rows wide.

Landing in Tokyo, Japan.


Our plane

Going through customs, pretty nerve wracking, but it went quick since we were military.

Next stop Okinawa!

Tiny Dancer

As you know, Olivia and I are in NY visiting family and friends. We decided to raid my childhood closet and play dress-up. Olivia was very cooperative and we had lots of fun (or at least I did). We came across one of my old costumes from a ballet recital. Now tell me this child isn't going to be the perfect ballerina?!

My Favorite:

Awwww. Little feet!

Olivia is 3 months old today!

Wow. Such a big girl! I can't believe she is 3 months old already. I'll give you some updated details about her: She smiles all the time, sometimes you even get a little giggle. She loves music, her favorite lullaby is "Hush little baby." But she is all smiles if you sing "My Girl," she'll even try to sing along with you. She turned out to be allergic to milk, so is on soy right now and is a completely different baby. Much more happier. She loves her bath. Not rolling over yet, but probably will soon, as she spins herself with her legs in the crib. And she is starting to drool like crazy...maybe we will see some teeth starting to try to come up soon?

Things are falling into place

Well Olivia and I made it to New York. She did wonderful on the plane ride. I fed her taking off and she fell asleep both on the way to ATL and on the way to Albany. She cried a little bit landing, but I think that was because she was bored with sitting. She rode on my lap and I'm sure she was thinking it was just an awesome car ride where she got to get out of her carseat and we never had to stop for red lights. The only bad part of the flight was that we were delayed in ATL for 4 hours. We never even got into Albany until 1:30 AM. I was upset at first, thinking "oh gosh, do I have enough formula?" But then I realized I needed to stay calm for the baby. And everyone else was flipping out on the airline people, so I figured I would just go with the flow. And I actually stayed calm.
We are having lots of fun in NY! Olivia is meeting so many new faces! Mike is doing fine in Nebraska, learning about his new plane he will be working on. We will meet back up with him on the 21st on the way to Japan.

The movers came last week and took all our stuff. Our house looks so empty, its pretty sad. But I guess that means things are coming together and falling into place. I just took some pictures of the baby, so those will get posted later. Until then!

"I'm going home..."

After two hours of frustration on the phone with Delta and Bank of America, and three (yes, three) plane tickets later, I finally have ONE plane ticket to come home. It is a long story, so I'll try to be brief. I attempted to buy a plane ticket off of Delta.com. Not usually a hard task, since I have managed to do it in the past. However (comma), there was a problem with Delta's website. When I put in my credit card number, they told me the ID was wrong. I tried again. Then they told me the number was wrong. I tried again. Then they told me to just use a different card. So I called my credit card company (Bank of America). And they informed me that my card was working just fine, as I managed to purchase THREE plane tickets for the grand total of $1300.00 of pending charges on my card! Excuse me?! Ok, well I only need one, so can you take two off...No, you need to call Delta and get them to do that. So I call Delta. Delta tells me that I didn't buy any tickets, and even if I did the bank would have to remove them...Hmmmm. Ok. I call Bank of America back. They say no, you bought three tickets, I see them here and Delta has to remove them. So the nice lady at Bank of America decides to call Delta to straighten it all out. I am on three-way and listen to them go back and forth. Finally, Delta orders me one ticket and Bank of America removes the other three...Wow. That was difficult. So the ending result is that Olivia and I will soon be in New York! We come in about 10:30 pm on Monday, August 4th. And we'll stay for two weeks. We leave on Monday, August 18th. On the 18th Olivia and I will fly back to Valdosta for a couple days. On Thursday the 21st, we leave Valdosta at 6:30 AM to fly to Atlanta to catch our flight to Japan. It will be a straight flight from Atlanta to Japan, 14 hours, with a baby...Yikes.

And if you haven't heard the other story, Mike doesn't get to come home with us. He has to attend a class in Nebraska to learn about the new plane he will be working on in Japan. So, he will leave Valdosta on Sunday, August 3rd. And we won't see him until the 21st when we are leaving to go to Japan in Atlanta Airport. I know, it's crazy. But that's our life!

Busy Week!

Boy oh boy, we had an eventful week. It started with Aunt Dandy coming to visit, a few doctor visits, going to dinner a few times, Jolyn and Danny coming to visit, then Tiltetown today! Turns out Miss Olivia is allergic to milk...so we switched to soy formula and she is much better! She is even less cranky overall. Here are some pictures from the last week or so...


Olivia by herself:

Aunt Dandy and Olivia (shhh they're sleeping):

Aunt Dandy feeding Olivia:

Olivia @ 11 weeks:

And a little Rock Band - I'm trying REALLY hard:

Its Been a While!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have been organizing pictures in albums...and I'm sick of it. I figured it wouldn't be a good idea to ship a box full of loose pictures to Japan, and there was no time like the present to start organizing and put them into albums. The only problem was I kept finding more and more pictures and having to keep starting over with the organizing part. So frustrating! I'm finally up to date. Not all of them are in chronological order, but I've come to accept that. And I now vow from this point forward to keep my pictures organized. If I print any out, they are to go right into albums/frames/whatever. I've already put them in order on my computer, so that is a start! Ok, now that's over, lets catch you guys up...

Olivia had her Two Month appointment! She had a clean bill of health. She weighed 12 lbs, and was 23.75 inches long. Doctor said she was tall, in the 91%. And her weight is in the 76%. But she has a small "nugget", only in the 17% for her head size. Doctor wasn't too worried about it though. She also got 5 shots! She was a trooper! She cried during the shots, but they didn't seem to bother her later on. Here are some pictures of her "war-wounds".

What a difference a month makes!

In the life of a baby, a month is a pretty long time! Look at how she changed. The post picture turned out small, but maybe you can still see the difference between the two.

2 Months Old Today!

Olivia is two months old today! I Can hardly believe it has already been 2 months. We took her monthly progress picture-here you go!

First 4th of July!

We didn't see fireworks, but we had a great 4th of July! It started with breakfast at home. Then we took Jillian to get a hair cut at Petsmart. Then we went shopping for a few odds and ends. And then we had dinner with friends. Olivia even wore red, white, and blue...Can you guess who dressed her?



And here is Jillian's new hair-do. They even put red, white and blue bows in her hair, although that didn't last long...
Before...

And After...