Baby's First Bikini

A week and a half ago, Mom went home, and since then I have been waiting to hop on the next military flight to be with Hyatt. It was a LONG week of waiting and calling the terminal every morning - I had wonderful friends helping me survive, but it just is not the same as having a live-in grandma, or a live-in dad... One typhoon and one earthquake later, Kaiya and I took a commercial flight down to Okinawa on Tuesday afternoon. We did not have any major mishaps, just minor reminders that traveling with a baby is not like traveling without one. Thank goodness for my Baby Bjorn Active Carrier (I know, I sound like a commercial, but it truly was a lifesaver!), as I was not allowed to bring the carseat on the plane. On the second leg of my flight, Kaiya decided it was prime time to go to the washroom - right after I had just changed her diaper on my lap, in my seat. Thankfully, I had already put another diaper on her. There was some major leakage, but we were able to deal with it. The humourous part of the situation (besides the fact that I was sitting on an airplane, buckled in, with a major runny diaper, poopy baby clothes, and poopy baby carrier) was that I had an elderly Japanese woman sitting beside me, who did not speak any english. So, using the flight attendant as a translator, she wanted to express her concern to me that my baby had an upset stomach. And I, using the handy flight attendant once more, explained that that was what her poopy diapers always look like! Suffice it to say, we made it to Okinawa in one piece (one of us in a different outfit than we started the trip in, but none the worse for the wear), and Hyatt was very excited to see both of us (although I think his daughter who he hadn't seen in almost 3 weeks kind of stole the show).

We are currently all staying in Hyatt's room on base, with Kaiya's sleeping quarters in her Pack n' Play in the kitchen. Due to the typhoon last week, our door lock only works intermittently, due to the moisture locked inside the door that keeps getting into the electronic lock. And yesterday we went on an outing with Hyatt's work crew to cleanup one of the area's beaches. Upon our arrival at the beach, Hyatt's first comment was that I not let Kaiya in the water there:) I was just excited for a chance to put Kaiya in her bikini for the first time:) While we were at the beach, the men who owned or ran the beach (I wasn't quite clear what their roles were), requested that the group fix the tree that had been blown over in the typhoon. To an untrained eye, it seemed that putting a rope around it and yanking could perhaps do more damage to that tree than good - however, these men apparently knew what they were talking about (perhaps they have had to deal with this same problem in typhoons past?

I have also posted a picture of Kaiya in a bonnet. During my lonely week, I had to find things to do with Kaiya's waketimes, and playing dressup was one of the fun activites (for me, anyways). The discovery that I made was that bonnets just are not Kaiya's style. I have yet to figure out why exactly, though. It may be because she has a round face, or because the bonnet makes her look like a little Amish baby... or perhaps it is because she is a mini Hyatt, and so it is as "off" as it would be to put a bonnet on him:)