Some new pictures of V. She's sitting up now without any support from us for brief periods of time, but those periods get longer and longer as each day goes by.

And she's talking, babbling up a storm. I don't know if there is any correlation between how much a baby moves or babbles and how soon she crawls or talks, but if there is, then V will definitely be talking first! What a chatterbox! But then that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone considering who her parents are! :-)

I've added some new videos to dropshot as well, so check 'em out via the "the team's videos" link. I was going to start adding videos to the blog itself, but my computer froze or the Internet died or something happened that caused it to take over 5 hours and not finish downloading one video. So, we're going to stick with dropshots for now. I have to occasionally delete the older ones from the site since there is only a limited amount of space, but no big deal! She's growing right? Need to keep making room for the current stuff!!

Poor Peanut had some kind of allergy going on for a few days. Her eyes were all red and she was really clingy

V and her beloved Froggie

Another try at a family picture

I love V's expression in this one

Sitting up on her own!

Its that time of year again in the Corps. The Birthday Ball. A time when the guys get all spiffy in their stunning, yet uncomfortable Dress Blues and the gals get all glamoured up in evening dresses and uncomfortable shoes. The actual birthday of the US Marine Corps is 10 Nov but I don't think I've been to a Ball on the 10th yet. Too many squadrons and units vying for event locations means that any time within the first two weeks or so of Nov will suffice.

This year's Ball was different for me in a few ways. First, we had V to think about. She hasn't been with a babysitter other than my parents or J.E.B., which doesn't count since immediate family is family, not a babysitter! And since she has a tendency to get obstinate when she wants or doesn't want something I was nervous to get a babysitter for the night. She has, in the past, refused to take a bottle from anyone but myself. Kind of aggravating when the whole point of her taking a bottle is so I can leave her for more than an hour or two!

Luckily the second difference for this Ball made it work out. The Ball this year was held at one of the casinos in the area, so the squadron hired day care at the casino for those who wanted it. Score! We got a room at the casino (that way we didn't have to worry about driving back home and I could sample a few of the liquid wares) and were able to drop V off upstairs at the daycare for the duration of the Ball. Having her only two floors above me instead of a 40 minute drive away did a lot to help my anxiety. She did really well considering it was her first time being left with strangers and in a strange place.

The fact that it was at the casino instead of the Officers' Club on base was great. All of the previous Balls I've been to, except for my very first one when J.E.B. and I were dating, have been at clubs which required you to drive there and back. Maybe the fact that my first Ball was at a hotel skewed my view of them, but to me, requiring the attendants to drive to the Ball is crappy. So this year was great in that we took advantage of the fact that we didn't have to drive home that night. We got a room, sent V up to the daycare and then hung out at the Ball longer than we have in years.

The last difference at this Ball was that it was buffet style. All the previous ones have been served food. I'm still not sure if I liked the buffet better than being served. There is something classic about going to a formal event and having someone serve you a plate of food. However, J.E.B. had a good point in that typically the plates served don't have enough food on them while the buffet lets you get as much as you want. So...maybe I am a fan of the buffet!

J.E.B. even gave me some money to blow on the slot machines. I say "blow on the slot machines" because, really who wins at slots? Who you ask? ME THAT'S WHO!!! Yup! I won $50 on the penny slots!! We started with $20 thinking it'll be gone in a matter of minutes. We got down to about $2 left and then I hit the jackpot and my total soared up to $50. We then decided to cash out and bask in the glory of walking away $30 ahead of the game!

So, overall the Ball was fun. I had a great dress (low, open back!), I was summoned only two times to the daycare for a crying V, J.E.B. forced me onto the dance floor for about 1 song (more than enough for me!) and I won $30! Good times!

We got the photographer to use our camera for this pic too. We bought a professional one, but wanted one with our camera too!

It was a sad day when I was told that the Birthday Ball cake is mostly frosted cardboard with a little bit of cake for the ceremony recipients (guest of honor, oldest marine present, youngest marine present).

This was the second trip to see her. You can see how red her cheeks are from crying. I was there about 10 minutes feeding her and trying to get her relaxed enough to stay with the sitters. On a "funny" note, about 5 minutes after this was taken she puked down the inside of my dress. Yum.

Ryan and Amanda. Good friends of ours.

Gotta love the self-taken pictures!

We are laughing in this one because the picture before this, J.E.B. was belching on me. Yup, all class that husband of mine!

This past weekend some friends came down from San Diego to visit us and to meet V. While they were here we went out into the desert to a place called the High Tanks in the Tinajas Altas Mountains. It was about a two-hour drive through the desert to get there but only about an hour to get home, thanks to the decision to stick to the main dirt road out there. It required us to get on part of the highway for the return trip but was well worth it since it cut an hour off of a bumpy, desert dirt road experience.

Anyway, the High Tanks were not the tall, columnar things I had envisioned, but rather depressions in the side of the mountain where hundreds of years of dripping water have hollowed out areas where water collects. Some of them were smallish but one was large enough for Charlie (our friend's dog) to swim in, although the water was nasty and smelly. To quote AJ, "it smells like a zoo." Yes, yes it did. And the flies and deer poop didn't add any aesthetic appeal. At least for me it didn't.

The tanks were staggered up the side of the mountain so, since we took V, Atlas and Charlie with us, we went in shifts to rock climb and see them. I've never been afraid of heights per se, but have always had a healthy respect for them. Ok, maybe too healthy! Anyway, I was much slower than J.E.B. at climbing and walking across some of the boulders.

J.E.B. and I forgot our camera but luckily Ben was smart enough to remember his!

Ben is sitting mid-way up (I think) looking back down to where J.E.B., V and I are waiting with the dogs

 

Charlie just hanging out as is his norm. I really haven't seen a dog more mellow than him!



AJ and V hanging out while J.E.B. and I took our turn at climbing

 Gotta love trying to get a nice family picture with a dog and a baby