Sweet as Honey: Happy Birthday Mel and Gramma!

When Mel was born on February 1st, she became Gramma's favorite birthday present. My mom and Mel will always be birthday buddies. So when we made the trip to Spokane and got there in time for their birthday it was extra special. Not only did Mel turn one but she got to celebrate the day with Gramma.


The morning of their birthday, Dany and her kids came over to celebrate and make us all breakfast. Yummy biscuits and pancakes! Mel especially loved the biscuits with jam on them.

They also brought presents. Mel got a pull-behind duck toy that quacks the alphabet. It is great for Mel because she loves the alphabet and she loves to quack. (Right now every animal quacks to her. Even the dogs.) She also got a great monkey book that chatters. That is also perfect because she loves books and is my little monkey.

That afternoon we headed over to Tiffany's house for another birthday party. Kelli got Mel a special birthday dress just for the occasion. They also had balloons, presents and cake for the celebration. We decided presents should be first since Mel would get really messy once we let her have cake. Mel received a couple of fun toys and some clothes. She loved her toys and I loved the clothes because Mel is starting to grow out of the ones we have now.

After presents it was time for the cake. It is tradition to get Mom/Gramma an ice cream cake. They had special candles on the cake for Mel and Gramma to blow out.

Mel wasn't too happy that I kept her from grabbing it. Kelli had made Mel a special monkey cake. She told Mel that she could have it all.

Stripping Mel down and setting her in her chair I was all prepared for a very messy kid.

Instead she touched the cake a couple of times and then started crying. Mel wouldn't even try a little bit.

Oh well guess Mel didn't want to mess up Kelli's beautiful cake.

Even though she didn't eat the cake. Mel had fun crawling around and getting to know some of her aunts, uncles and cousins a little better.

I can't believe it has been a full year since my baby was born. It is crazy how quickly times goes by. Mel is so much fun and is growing and learning every day. I love my little monkey!

Tweaking the Trailer: Baby Needs a Bath!

Some trailers have bathtubs. They are small and really only good for small children but at least they have one. Our trailer is NOT one with a bathtub. When we bought our trailer we never thought we would have to be giving a kid a bath on a regular basis. But now that Mel has come along bath time is a must.

I looked into a lot of different collapsible bathtubs and settled on this one. It is a Prince Lionheart Flexitub and I love it! When collapsed it fits perfectly in between the shower and the bathroom sink. Totally out of the way and yet still convenient to get when needed.

When expanded it fits nicely in our shower. One thing I like about this tub is that it sits flat. That means I don't have to worry about the legs collapsing as Mel get bigger. It is also a decent enough size that Mel will have enough room to splash and play for the next year at least.

With Mel sitting up and moving around, Meric and I added some skid proof duckies to the bottom of the tub. They work great and add a little more color to the tub. Mel loves bath time and loves to play in her tub.

Sweet as Honey: Mel's First Flight

I really should title this blog as The Unexpected Journey.

Meric is currently in San Antonio, TX for some training. He will be there until March. While he is in TX, Mel and I are visiting the Smiths in KY and plan to make a trek up to WA to visit family. (Fingers crossed we make it to WA!)

When Meric got to his training he was given his schedule of classes and homework. He discovered that he not only got MLK day off but he would have the Friday before it off as well. Unexpected 4 day weekends are the best! Since I am still reasonably close we decided to try and meet up for the weekend. 

Little Rock, AR was our first plan. We started looking at hotels and things to do in the area. Then we thought about how long of a trip that would be for me alone with Mel and decided to try somewhere closer for me. Memphis, TN was our next plan but that would be a very long drive for Meric. I looked for flights out of Louisville, KY (our closest airport) but they were very expensive. Lynn then suggested we look for flights out of Nashville, TN (a 2 hour drive). They were MUCH cheaper and we decided that me flying would end up costing as much as us driving and getting a hotel room so I booked a flight. 

Bright and early I drove down to Nashville and Mel and I started our adventure. I wanted to be sure I had no trouble with security or getting to our gate while carrying 2 bags, a car seat and a kid. So I, in true Mandy fashion, was very early for our flight. It worked out well because I was able to hang out in the USO and let Mel play before boarding our flight. 

Our first flight was a quick one to Charlotte, NC. (Yes that is the opposite direction from TX) We quickly found the USO again. I love being able to put my stuff down, let Mel sit and play, and eat in a nice comfortable area. I couldn't have done this trip without those USOs!

Playing and eating a doughnut, life is good!

Our next flight was 3 hours and I was sitting in the middle seat. Luckily I was seated next to 2 very nice and understanding people who were more than happy to hold Mel as she bounced from lap to lap. She is one very friendly kid.

Meric picked us up at the airport and Mel was very happy to see him. 

It has been a long time since I was in San Antonio and it was so nice to go back and hit some of our favorite spots. Of course we had to see the Alamo and the Riverwalk. We even took a riverboat tour.

We also went to one of the other missions in San Antonio.

There are 5 missions and a trail that connects them all. It would have been cool to do the mission trail but it is 16 miles round trip. They rent out bikes but I didn't think it would have been a good idea to put Mel in the basket.

The mission we went to was San Jose.

 We didn't get to see inside the chapel very well though because it is still used for mass. The mission and grounds were very beautiful and it was nice to see a piece of history still being used.

While visiting San Antonio the weather was absolutely beautiful and warm. We were able to take Mel to the park a couple of times.

She loved crawling around the play ground.

I took her down the slide a few times, which she loved.

And of course we let her do her favorite playground activity: swing.

(Check out that hair!)

Even though it was a long weekend, it was a very short visit. It was hard to leave Meric again. I wasn't really looking forward to flying again but this time our layover was in Dallas so we had 2 short flights and another USO to visit. Getting back to Kentucky after 2 am made for a very long day but I am very glad we went.

Seasoned flyer just waiting to board

Life has a funny way of changing lanes on you when you least expect it. I never expected to get this quick trip to TX but it was really fun. And now Mel has had her first airplane trip!

Sweet as Honey: Mel's 1st 1st Birthday Party

For New Years Meric, Mel and I headed to Kentucky to spend time at our old campground with the Smiths. Soon Meric will be heading to San Antonio for a training that will last 2 1/2 months. While Meric is in Texas Mel will have her 1st birthday. I really hated that Meric would miss Mel's birthday so we decided to celebrate it a little early.

One of the best parts of a first birthday is letting the kid get super messy and all sugared up with birthday cake. I figured cupcakes would be an easy option to share and get messy. When I saw the pink camo cupcake wrappers I just couldn't resist. We decided to make chocolate and strawberry cupcakes. (Mel loves both of those flavors.) Hannah and Emma helped me make and decorate all of the cupcakes. Hannah made Mel's cupcake especially messy.

We invited a few of our closest Kentucky friends came to share in the celebration. All I can say is I have one very spoiled kid. Mel loved all of her presents.

When it came time to give Mel her cupcake she was very excited. But when we took the time to sing Happy Birthday she started crying. She didn't want us to sing, she just wanted her cupcake. As you can see she really enjoyed her dessert.

Funny thing is with all of the presents and excitement, I forgot to give Mel the presents Meric and I got her. We got her a monkey pillow and a happy birthday balloon. Good thing she is only one and has no idea how forgetful her momma is!

Sweet as Honey: Mel's First Christmas

This Christmas is a special one. It is my sweet baby's first Christmas. Being only 10 months old Mel doesn't understand Christmas but that doesn't stop us from having fun.

December started with a Christmas 5K on Fort Gordon. The Holly Jolly Run was a family fun run that handed out jingle bells and encouraged us to wear ugly Christmas sweaters.

We don't own Christmas sweaters so Meric and I had some fun with snowman t-shirts and pajama pants. Mel on the other hand sported a onesie that read "this is my TACKY Christmas sweater" and fuzzy red socks.

The outfits won us a prize in the costume contest.

Later in the month Meric and I took Mel to look at Christmas lights. "Lights of the South" is a special light display that covers several acres. You can either take a hayride or walk the trail to view the lights.

When we got there it was crazy busy (it took about 30 minutes just to get into the parking lot) and the line to the hay ride was quite long.

Being us, Meric and I decided to walk (about 1-2 miles) to view the lights. Walking really was nice.

The evening wasn't too cold and walking allowed us to take our time and really let Mel enjoy looking at all the lights.

Speaking of lights, once again I decorated our back room by draping Christmas light all about the walls and ceiling. I hung all of the lights and then waited until Meric was home to plug them in. I wanted both of us to see the look on Mel's face when she saw them for the first time. Her face was well worth the wait. She was in awe of all the colors and lights.

This year I did have to make a minor adjustment to the way I decorate. Normally I hang the stockings by the fireplace and put our tiny tree on the floor in the corner. This year the stockings and tree are up and out of the reach of our very own curious little monkey.

For Mel's first Christmas I didn't want to go over board on presents. Meric and I got Mel stacking cups, monkey toys, a book and stuffed her stocking with treats.

On Christmas morning I let her open a present and play with it for a little while before moving on to the next thing.

One of the goodies in her stocking was a Hostess Cupcake, a.k.a breakfast. Mel loved it! Of course she didn't take a nap and was wired all day but she loved it.

We opened presents slowly throughout the day and enjoyed a nice relaxing day. We got to Skype a little with our families and they got to see Mel open her presents from them.

Between the lights, the presents, the toys and the treats Mel loved Christmas! I am looking forward to next year with my funny little monkey!