Rain Rain Go Away

If I have ever wondered what living in the Pacific Northwest would be like, I question it no more.  Guam has been having one heck of a rainy season and it really needs to start wrapping up.  Do you like how we have lived on Guam for less than a year (well, one year for Carlos) and yet here I am making claims about how bad this rainy season is?!  I may not be able to compare to years past, BUT I have been told by folks who live here it seems to be worse this year.  Lucky us.

When the rainy season first started, I actually didn't mind the change.  It was nice having a little relief from the unbelievably bright and sunny (and have I ever mentioned hot?) days here.  Granted, it is still hot/humid here even with the rain, but there is some overcast which can be nice.  Well, we are done with nice now and would like to be able to go from one place to the next and not wonder if we will be caught in a sudden onset of very heavy rain because of how quickly things change.

People didn't give this wise man enough credit, but I find myself thinking of Forrest Gump every time the rain starts falling in Guam and saying to myself "yep, he nailed it."  His description of the rain when he was fighting in Vietnam is exactly how it happens here in Guam...

 "One day it started raining, and it didn't quit for four months. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain... and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath."


Lets just say an umbrella here is just something we hold onto in the hopes that the one time we do use it, we may actually stay dry.  I'll let you know when that one time occurs for me.  Don't go holding your breath waiting for it though.


I know what you are thinking…are you really blogging about rain?  Still?  Yes, I am.  Because I really can't explain well enough just how this rain impacts our lives.  For example, the other day I needed to run to the store.  So the trip started off innocent enough...clear skies and even some of that elusive sunshine had come out to play in Piti (the village where we reside).  I loaded up the baby and on my way to the Navy base I went.  5 minutes into the trip it was like someone picked up the ocean and started pouring it on top of us.  So we sat in the car...In the parking lot of the store we were supposed to go into…and we sat…and we sat…and then we left.  I just couldn't bring myself to get us out of the car and get soaked.  If it was just me, no problem.  But the baby?  No way.  


The other interesting thing about the rainy season is that it seems to bring out all the crazy sick patients.  Our numbers for the OR have been exceptionally high these past couple of months and I wish I could say it has been with the average joe kind of patients.  It's like the skies opened up, and the clouds started dropping crazy unique patients our way along with the rain.  Kind of like a full moon effect, except full moons last but a few days and this has been going on for a couple of months.  Sigh.  Wouldn't be so bad if these crazy sick patients showed up during routine business hours, but they seem to love late evenings and the middle of the night.


Alas, we will attempt to stay dry, continue to use our umbrellas purely as fashion accessories, and sit in cars as long as it takes for the rain to pass...or until Reece lets us know he has had enough and we go home.

On The Move

Reece went from push-ups to the video below within a few days.  The time span between the 2 videos is 5 days.  He is out of control!

Silver Lining

Ahhhhh yes, life as the only orthopedic surgeon at US Naval Hospital Guam is soon coming to an end for Carlos.  It has been a unique experience, and at times rough, but overall, it's safe to say that being on call 24/7 since the end of May just plain STINKS!  Since he was the only ortho doc around, that also meant at times we were on call together.  For the most part we got lucky and it wasn't an issue, but in the past 1.5 weeks, it did become an issue for us...twice.  Fortunately, the first time was a surgery case we already knew would take place, so I was able to arrange for Reece to have a sitter.  The second time came out of nowhere so I was moderately panic stricken.  Reece was with me as I was on my way to join friends for dinner. Carlos was going to catch up with us after a "quick" consult in the ED.  Well that quick consult turned into a OR case.  He called me before I arrived at my destination, so I did a little U-turn and back to the hospital I went...with the baby.  The entire time I kept thinking "what on earth do I do with Reece?  I need to be in the room, but at the same time, can't leave him hanging out by himself!"  My first thought was to take him down to the MBU (Mother/Baby Unit) and just park him at the nurses station.  I know the nurses and corpsmen down there and knew they would watch him and play with him...besides, Reece had been there before...I'm sure he'd remember the place from March 7th :)

Fortunately, one of my surgical techs had not left for home yet and she offered to stay and take care of him for us.  So while Mommy and Daddy worked together in the OR, Reece was well taken care of 25ft down the hall in our break room.  This is the one thing I for sure love about Guam...small community of folks in the hospital so you get to know one another and genuinely care to help each other out.

So back to Carlos.  Well, since his new ortho colleague arrived last week and is now in the process of checking in and getting himself and family settled, Carlos and I are breathing a sigh of relief that hopefully we will never have to put Reece through that again (not that Reece even had a clue, but man, did we feel so guilty!).  Now the other guy can be on call when I'm on call and Reece will always have either his Mommy or Daddy to take care of him.  Oh yes, the joys of dual military/dual working parents/dual parents who both have jobs that require call...etc.  Trust me, I know what you are thinking and I've already started the re-evaluation of all things career.  Problem is, I like the Navy...most of the time...and by the time I leave Guam, I'll have 11 years in.  9 more years is a long time, but it's only 9 more years and then I get my pension...and did I mention I'll only be 42?  Carlos keeps saying he doesn't know if he will stay in, but I have to tell you, he will stay in.  I say this because he is like me and that we just don't know how to get out.  Sure we know how to file the proper paperwork, but this has become so ingrained in us, that we really just don't know how to walk away from it.

Man, I keep getting off on a tangent :)  BACK to Carlos again...I think finally getting a break from jam-packed clinics and getting the help with the call schedule will be good for his morale.  Even though he won't admit it, the poor guy is exhausted.  Is it as bad as residency?  Heck no, but to live every day wondering if you should do this or that out of concern your pager will go off is no way to live!  Yay for freedom from that annoying pager and to the boat he goes!  Speaking of the boat, according to Carlos it is just perfect.  He took it out yesterday and just motored around in the harbor so he was close by if he did get paged.  I think it is pretty safe to say that his first weekend of no duty, I might not see him as he will be out on the deep blue sea all day!  Good for him though, he deserves it!

So I believe most of you have seen the recent pic of Reece I sent out.  The baby push-up pic.  I have to tell you, I keep going back to that picture on a daily basis, sometimes even multiple times a day.  First, I can't get over how strong he is.  He doesn't just go up on his hands and feet for a second, he will hold the position as he tries to figure out how to make himself move (you can see his frustration...he knows what he wants to do (crawl), but he doesn't know how to make it all go together).  He'll bend his leg in and keep it there, but can't figure out that the hands need to move as well.  Second, I can't get over how much he has grown and all that he has accomplished in his soon to be 5 months of life.  He has one bottom tooth already growing in and the second bottom tooth has broken ground and started to poke through his gums.  Really?  Make him stop growing please!  Every day is an adventure with him, but he is the best part of every day.  You can't help but smile when he flashes his smile at you and his giggle is enough to make you start laughing too.  I'll try to capture the giggle on video so you can all smile/laugh along as well.

On that note, I am off to bed.  As I sat here typing this, Carlos got paged from the ED and is on his way in to work to reduce a fracture...at 9pm.  The fun never ends :)

The joys of teething

Serious conversation with Reece

all around happy baby

Room for Improvement!

If there is one thing the Navy has taught me, it is that we are always ALWAYS looking at PI (Process Improvement) with the way we do things.  I'm going to work on my own PI project at home titled "Keeping up with Blogging."
PI objectives:
*work on ways to improve my time management so that I allow myself more time to update the blog
*improve upon my lazy night-time factor (where instead of taking a moment to type, I lay around and watch stupid TV (oh how I do enjoy the Bravo channel) or stream on Netflix
*Actually post the videos/pictures that I take with the intention of putting them on the blog
*Employ my husband to type the blog while I dictate...we all know I enjoy verbal communication so much better :)

Hmmmm...I'm sure there could be more objectives/goals, but that will do for now.   I don't want to aim too high :)

A few things going on for us Kennedys:
Carlos FINALLY got the part he was waiting on for his boat so he can now set sail out onto the big blue ocean.  I'm sure I won't see him at all this coming weekend!  Reece and I are going to wait until after we know everything is a-ok before we don our life vests (yep, they make infant life vests and Reece is ready to put his on!).  Hopefully we'll be out there soon and when we do, I'll take pics...and post them!

Reece had his 4 month well-baby appointment last Wednesday.  I can't believe it has been 4 months already.  Sigh.  He weighed in at 12lbs 15oz and 24 1/2 in.  He was also given permission from his pediatrician to start on solids (and by solids we are just talking about baby cereal for now).  He babbled and smiled during his entire appointment and just charmed his doctor to death.  I swear we are in trouble when he is older.  He also made sure to do his traditional watering of the exam table.  I think it is his way of protesting being stripped down to his birthday suit for an accurate weight.  As soon as his naked self is put down on the table the weight comes up and he celebrates by peeing all over the table.  We do a repeat performance every appointment.  As for the solid starting, he does ok with the whole cereal on a spoon thing.  He knows where the spoon is supposed to go, but I really wish he wouldn't try to "help" so much as he usually ends up covered in his cereal trying to put the spoon in his mouth.

Today I discovered a couple uninvited house guests living in our garage.  Two little kittens have taken up residence behind our generator.  I'm assuming because it is our rainy season (and oh is it ever), their mama found them a nice warm, dry place to bunker down.  Mama Cat is still with them and I don't have the heart to drive her out into the rain and back into the boonie animal lifestyle that exists for so many animals of Guam.  Her babies need her.  So, for now, it looks like we will have garage guests until they up and leave on their own.  Not sure if that will actually happen since I'm such a sucker for cute baby faces (human and animal) and started feeding/watering the cat/kittens.  Someone should just build me an ark and let me put all the animals who need a home on it.  It breaks my heart how many animals need someone to love them.

On that note, I leave you with a video of Reece playing in his exer-saucer/bouncy thingy.  Till next time!

Beach Baby

Reece had a great time at Gab Gab Beach...his first time at the beach and in the Philipine Sea!

Ma, how am I supposed to work on my tan?

working on my Sports Illustrated swimsuit pose

Reece's smirk

Getting ready for to put his foot into the ocean for the first time

Just one giant bath tub...he loved it!

A-MA-ZING

This is just a little update that coincides with my last posting about Reece's "cry it out" sleep training.  Monday night he cried for only 20 minutes and every night since he has not cried at all.  He just goes to sleep.  Not a peep.  As a matter of fact, he has been sleeping so well, it almost seems like he can't wait to go to bed at night (and neither can we!)  :)  I hope I am not jinxing myself by talking about it, but I'm just so amazed.  Oh, and since Sunday, he has only been waking up once at night to eat a little, but then goes right back to sleep.  He used to wake us up in the morning and now Carlos has to wake him up to get him off to day care.  Again, amazed.  He sleeps from 7pm to about 1:30am then back to sleep at about 1:45am-6:30am.  So, for all haters of the cry it out method, I'm here to tell you that it works...and in some cases it works quickly!  I also feel better knowing Reece won't remember ever having gone through it :)  My body is getting so much uninterrupted sleep, it doesn't know how to react!  All I know is we are going to enjoy it while we have it because we know that horrible sleep disruption, otherwise known as teething, will be here before we know it!

Rainy Days

Tis the season...the Guam rainy season that is.  Funny though, I'm actually enjoying it.  I like having a break from the standard Guam weather of sunshine, hot, and humid.  Don't get me wrong, we still have the humidity (oh do we ever), but the rain helps keep some of the overwhelming heat away.  I'm enjoying this dreary day as I feel justified for being lazy and just doing household things.  By 1pm I had showered, Skyped, talked on the phone, put Reece down for a morning nap (the only nap he enjoys), made dinner (pot roast in the crock pot still cooking away), baked 2 loaves of zucchini bread, and did one load of laundry.  I guess my mention of "lazy" up above is all relative :)

As I type, I am wearing Reece so that he can get a good nap in.  Nothing puts him to sleep faster/better/longer than dozing off in his Baby Bjorn carrier.  He's getting to be that age where I shouldn't have to wear him to get him to take a good nap, but alas, my son does not seem to believe in an afternoon slumber so I trick him into one.  Mean mommy :)

Carlos and I have started the crib transition at night and I'm happy to report it is going very well.  For those who don't know, Reece has been sleeping in his Pack and Play in our bedroom since he was born.  Well, because he now sleeps for longer stretches at a time, can roll over on his own, and knows how to self soothe, it was time to cut those night-time apron strings and put him in his own room.  Now I'm sure we all have different beliefs in the methods used to get babies to sleep on their own.  So if you don't agree with letting them "cry it out," then you may want to stop reading this post, because with Reece's personality, we knew this was going to be the way we had to go.

This is basically the play by play of our past two nights:
Carlos gives Reece his bedtime bottle in the nursery, gently rocking him to get him ready for sleepy time.  Meanwhile, I am downstairs with the tv on and finding things to do in the kitchen so that I am not able to hear the cries once he gets laid down.  Carlos puts him in the crib and for a couple of minutes, all is calm.  At this point I think Reece is thinking "ok, this is cool, but now what?  Oh yeah, I'm supposed to cry now for an unspecified amount of time."  Cue crying.

Crying lasts anywhere between 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Again, I'm doing everything and anything to NOT hear him.  Thank goodness for concrete walls in Guam :)  Crying eventually turns into Reece babbling to himself to which I interpret as "that was a good cry.  I'm sure I made my mommy and daddy feel bad with that one, but I'm tired now, so off to sleep I go!"  After 5 minutes of silence, I tip-toe into his room to make sure he hasn't put himself into some awkward position in his crib (nothing surprises me with this little mover and shaker), and to also turn on the baby monitor because now that he is asleep, I do want to hear him if he wakes up during the night!

This is the good part though...Reece sleeps...and sleeps...and sleeps.  He wakes up at least once in the middle of the night to nurse, two times max.  These are the time I debate if I should go to him or let him put himself back to sleep, but usually there is a distinct difference in the "I'm pissed off I'm in here" cry and the "get your butt in here and feed me because I'm hungry Mommy" cry.  He goes right back to sleep after eating though and sleeps, sleeps, sleeps!  That was the good part...the best part?  My child has never slept past 6:15am.  He has gone back to sleep after waking up at that time, but usually it takes some effort.  Today, I'm happy to report he slept (without waking) until 7:15am!  That is all a mother dreams for herself...the chance to just sleep until 7:00 :)  He also woke up babbling, not crying and when he saw me peeking over the crib, I got the biggest Reece smile he can give.

We are so proud of our little guy and there is something to be said about teaching your baby how to sleep.  We expect that every night will be a little less crying before falling to sleep and in no time, will just go down without a fight.  It's hard to hear him cry, but I just keep telling myself that in the long run, this is best for Reece.  Good sleep habits=happy baby.

Next project...getting him to take an afternoon nap without having to "wear" my baby :)