My call sign is Tine Tine

It was Lady Redhawk day yesterday and I got to spend a glorious five hours without the baby. No bottles, no crying, no dirty diapers. Don't get me wrong... I just relished the break is all. Dave's squadron VT-21 has one day a year where they invite the wives/girlfriends of the pilots and pilots in training to come and check out exactly what it is their husbands/boyfriends do each day. It's like a take your wife to work day. The attire for us was our man's flight suit with a patch made for us that included our call sign. A call sign is somewhat of a nickname given to you after you are a winged Aviator. It is usually something unflattering like 'WUNA' (world's ugliest Naval Aviator) or 'Chunks' if one happens to throw up during a flight. Think 'Maverick' in Top Gun. Dave's call sign is 'Krammer' because his hair bears a resemblance of said character on Seinfeld. Instead of wings of gold that Naval Aviator's have on their name patches we got the Southwest Airlines heart with wings least we forget that we aren't actually winged Aviators. Just a side note here: flight suits are incredibly unflattering and very hot to wear. They are made of inflammable, hot as hell material. I am not one to sweat a lot but I did my fair share even with the tiny pinholes they provide you in the armpits of the suits for 'ventilation' . Add how hot it is here in South Texas and a long sleeved, long legged flight suit plus the G-suit over the flight suit - you feel compassion for the strapping men who wear them day in and day out.

Here is a picture of us and some of the husbands. The jet they fly is the T-45 and is behind us. Dave was kind enough to stay at home with Brenden so he isn't in the picture.
The next picture is me with some of the G-suit on. The G-suit is a gravity suit that puffs up a bladder on your legs and groin so that blood doesn't pool in your legs when you are feeling the effect of gravity flying so fast. They are supposed to help keep the blood up in your head so you don't pass out. Nice huh?


Tom Cruise eat your heart out.

The white zigzag lines on the canopy on the picture below are explosives designed to blow off the canopy in case one needs to eject.. We were definitely told not to pull on the stripped handle sitting quaintly between our legs.

One great part of the day involved us getting to go into the flight simulators. Think of a big IMAX theater with a cockpit of a jet. The image projected all around you is whatever training mission they want you to try. The guys were nice enough to have us try landing the jet on an aircraft carrier. Something very hard to do even if you know how to fly. Needless to say I won't write how miserable we all were at the task but it was a lot of fun nonetheless. I sort of made it onto the carrier before I skidded off the side and crashed into the water. I guess I will be keeping my day job.

One of those milestones

Brenden actually loves being on his tummy so when you put him there.. he tends to want to hang out for a while and look at the world in a new right side up sort of way. We have to motivate him to rollover and sometimes when he starts to push himself over, he decides that maybe its not such a good idea as seen here in the video. Enjoy!

He is just now starting to notice the dogs and is very interested in them when they walk around. This new found awarness has lead me to seek new ways to combat boredom. SHOPPING!! There aren't exactly a lot of interesting shops here in Corpus but that doesn't seem to bother him. He was highly amused at the products offered for sale at the Hobby Lobby. I proceeded to go down every aisle in the store (it is the size of a Costco) and his eyes were as wide as saucers the entire time. What a great way to kill an hour of time! Of course he was in his trusty infant carrier (see blog below on the Baby Bjorn replacement) so he could view 180 degrees. He is definitely changing and growing on a daily basis. I can't believe its been almost five months since he was born.

The one contribution I will have made to the Corpus Christi skyline

I thought I might post something about my short career here in Corpus as an Architect. I say short because we were only supposed to be here a year or so. It is now going on two years that we have been here but the light can be seen at the end of the tunnel as Dave will be done with jet training here next month (insert raging applause here!!!) - I will save that for another post though. I worked at WKMC Architects for approximately a year before I had Brenden and decided that I wouldn't go back to work immediately. The firm is the largest here in Corpus with about 35 employees. I worked in the Financial Studio and got to design banks which is something that I have had no experience in. It was refreshing to learn something new and I liked the challenge. Coming from a job where I did schools and libraries, there was much to learn about banking and security. I worked almost exclusively on the Texas Champion Bank corporate headquarters and while the schematic design was done before I was hired, I was able to do most of the construction documents and detailing of the building myself. The design of banks is definitely much more 'reserved' than schools... or maybe its a California vs. Texas thang. You can get away with a lot more creative solutions and design ideas in California than you can here. Or maybe people just are accepting of buildings that are different. One should take into consideration that banks have to look somewhat stately but for me that translates into boring. I also understand that with banks, people like to deposit their money in a place that looks familiar and conservative on some level. Maybe online banking is a better thing that I thought.. you don't have to go into a brick and mortar building?? I wish I could have worked here longer in some ways to challenge the good ol' boy system in the Lone Star state.. but alas it is not meant to be. The image at the top of the blog is a picture that was done as a 3D rendering in our office for the ground breaking ceremony. The colors came out weird here on the blog but you get the general idea.

On a side note... people here in Texas are obsessed with drive through banking! They wont get out of their giant trucks for nuthin' ! Coming from California where land is scarce and expensive and drive up banking has all but vanished from the landscape, it was surreal to see SO much land devoted to it here. This design has eight or so lanes.. mind boggling! Below is a pic I took the other day. I think the project is around 75% complete....

The most entertaining baby toy is......

.... the one and only diaper changing pad! Don't bother with all the expensive toys to entertain your tyke. No no no.. the one that works the best is right under your nose! We have found that once we put Brenden on the changing pad, his whole mood changes from dark to light. Immediately - laughs, giggles, coos and smiles emanate from the pad in seconds. Even if he is having a meltdown, we just walk over and lay him down and voila.. simply magic!! We guess that he associates the pad with diaper freedom and streatching and thus just like Pavlov's dogs.. he has discovered the power of reward and association. Who knew? His new thing to entertain himself is to blow raspberries and squeal at a very high pitch - presumably figuring out he has range of his vocal chords. It can be earsplitting. I tried to film him today but only caught a mediocre squeal as evidenced here in the clip below..I must have had the volume on the camera turned down because it doesn't do him justice but enjoy anyhow.. and of course it happened on the changing pad.

The other most wonderful baby soother we have found out is the combination Baby Bjorn baby carrier and the stability ball. Those two items combined are the equivalent of baby crack cocaine... I must find a way to market the already popular stability ball to mothers and fathers - it would sell big time! Of course one can go about one's normal activities whilst soothing baby as shown below in the pic of Dave enjoying a beer after a hard weeks work. He is a man of many talents. Note to readers.. since Brenden has passed the 20 lbs. mark at the very tender age of four months.. the trusty Baby Bjorn has to be retired.. boo hoo.. it is only good for babies 22 lbs. and under and silly me for thinking I would get more than four or five months of use out of it. Fear not! We have found a new carrier rated to 32 lbs... whew! So does anyone have any solutions for me in another two months when he grows out of that one? I welcome any comments and suggestions.

Laaaaaaides and Geeeentlemen... the one... the only....

.....activity to do in Corpus Christi!! TA DA!!! The Texas State Aquarium folks! Step right up and see the wonderful sea creatures that are native to the coastal bend area!! Yes that's right, for the mere price of $13.50 (military price) per person you too can walk to maze of exhibits and be thankful you are in air conditioning and not sweating your a$$ off in the miserable Texas heat! Whatta deal!!

OK OK, there are a few more things to do in Corpus Christi but not many (see other posts about how BORING it is to live here) like the U.S.S. Lexington - a WWII aircraft carrier. Don't worry though, I was able to capture that in the background of my photos so you actually get two for the price of one on this blog. Lucky you!

The Aquarium is a nice, modern facility and Brenden loved (as much as a four month old can love) looking at the fish swimming about. More importantly it got us out as a family to see some sunshine and stretch our legs...

I wish I could duplicate the above shark tank shown in the pic above for Brenden's bedroom.. what a sleep soother that would be. He will have to make do with the Fisher Price Rain forest aquarium that Nanna Slay bought him which he loves!!

......Alright so he likes looking at the water more than the fish... whatever it was worked to make him happy!
I have been getting 'suggestions' from friends that I actually post pictures of me and Brenden - so the picture above is one Dave took of us with me protesting the whole time - because that's the way I am. Not that I don't want pictures of me and Brenden but feel much more comfortable behind the lens. I love to take pictures!

I told you that I wouldn't disappoint you by not showing you the U.S.S Lexington aircraft carrier as seen in the background. It's actually pretty cool to do a tour of it - I did that when my parents visited at New Years and I was impressed. I can't imagine spending 7 months on a ship like that. I do admire people that can (insert name of husband here!)

There you have it! CC Texas in a nutshell. I love the people of Texas but I am glad we are moving out of here next month to greener (and cooler) pastures of the USA.

First swim!

Up against another boring, HOT Texas summer day, we meet our friends Krystal and Adrian and their baby girl Kailani at the Corpus Christi Athletic Club for the babies first swim in a pool. Krystal gave birth to Kailani seven weeks after Brenden and we have enjoyed the ups and downs of colicky babies these past few months for better or for worse. Saturday it was our turn to see what they could do in the water.

The babies were naturals in the water from the beginning and even brought the attention of the lifeguard who teaches baby swim lessons over to tell us how to put them on a kick board to float on their tummies and also how to blow on their faces before dunking them underwater. The latter of which we did not do due to the nature of one not wanting to put our 2 or 3 month olds under water.. I know ~ how strange of us!

Maybe Brenden will take after his Mother in the water in the future or maybe not but the thought of it made my day and that was priceless. What more could I have asked for? Added bonus was seeing Dave in his swimsuit! I love that man ~ he makes my heart melt over and over again.