It's almost 2009, are you ready?

Today is the last day of 2008. And what a year it has been. Let's take a look back at some of the exciting highlights, shall we?

~Melly. I'm not sure how we were happy without her.
~Forest fires. Being evacuated is not as much fun as one would think.
~Laid off. Not the worst thing to happen, but definitely not the best.
~First Birthday. Totally wonderful, especially since so many people joined in on the celebration.
~Mr. C's new Job. One of the best things to happen this year.
~Moving to a new state. A mixed bag. We have a beautiful home, and are making some good friends. But we still miss SC and CA and all the people we had to leave behind.
~Melly's aquatic adventures. A big plus no matter how you look at it. The beach is a hit for all ages.
~Visits from friends. Thank you everyone who came to visit us (both in SC and in NC). I don't know what we would do without our friends.

And those are the most thought about moments of 2008. (I'm sure I am missing some, but don't worry. I can always check through the blog again.)

Anyway... We can't stay up until midnight tonight so we are going to have New Year Mimosas tomorrow morning.

HAPPY 2009 EVERYONE!

Wall Art

I have been attempting to make Melly's room feel all baby friendly (since we didn't have a room for her for so long). And one of the things that the experts recommend is putting the child's name on the wall. Something about name recognition and such. So when we opened the wonderful gift from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa S we had the means to make it a reality. On Monday we all went to the craft store and got some cardboard letters. (Which makes them really light weight and safe to put over the baby's bed. I still spend time thinking if something is going to be earthquake safe or not. Go figure.) I spent that afternoon and night painting them up...and yesterday afternoon we put them on the wall. I think they turned out wonderfully. (Unfortunately my photography skills are far worse than my crafting skills and so the picture is less than wonderful, but you can still see pretty good.) I personally like the polka-dots the best. But the glitter ones are cool too. I just hope Melly likes them as she gets older.

Thank you for the wonderful gift Great Grandma and Grandpa S!

Right before Christmas

We started the day at Gymboree. The maracas are always a huge hit. Especially since Melly can hold about five of them at once.

Going places with Grandma and Grandpa is always fun! And that day we were off to Duke University.

We had to bundle up because it was really cold. But it was nice to see Duke. (Grandpa J's undergrad college.)

Being allowed to walk the entire aisle herself, Melly practically flew to the front of the chapel. She stopped every few feet to make sure mom was watching and to check out the stained glass.

Look at the shining stained glass windows. They held Melly's attention for a long time. And she wanted everyone to look at them, once we caught up.


After taking a good look at all of the beautiful stained glass and the front of the chapel, Melly escorts Grandpa back to the front doors. (To shout in the echoing atrium and play on the stairs.)


At home, sometimes the most fun moments are unexpected. Here is Melly on her very first grandpa ride! So much fun!!!

Melly and Santa

Guest posted by Mr. C

MERRY CHRISTMAS

The night before Christmas, after Santa came and gave all the good babies of the house presents...and a few for mom and dad too.

Melly discovers that not only has she managed to wake up both parents at 5am, but there is something very wonderful waiting for her in the living room.

And the beautiful stocking her Grandma C made for her is full of more goodies!

Of course, trying out the new stuff makes for a good break in the opening of presents. Melly loves her new riding giraffe!

Mom and dad got good stuff too. Melly decided to check their stuff out before opening more presents.

Then Melly needed to help dad open some things.... What could it be?

Melly also received a great big monkey from Santa. You know the best part? You can pick the monkey's nose!

All in all Christmas morning was a hit. Everyone had a wonderful time... and then we took a nap.

We hope everyone had a great morning of presents and fun too!

Silent Night

Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace

Wishing everyone a Wonderful Christmas, a bright New Year, a glorious Hanukkah, and a beautiful Solstice.

May the Season be kind and loving to you all.

What a day

Today was quite a day for us is babyland...

It started at 5:30am when Miss Melly decided we all needed to be awake. After some careful consideration Mr. C ended up on baby duty and I got a little more sleep. At 9:00 we were off to Gymboree! It was great. We went up and down the baby stairs for at least five minutes. Unfortunately all was not perfect in at Gymboree. We were very excited and ran around until we tripped and.... gave ourselves a nose bleed. (Is that a milestone event? Baby's first bloody nose?) This dampened our spirits some luckily class was almost over and we made it through the last few minutes.

After that we went to the store and were very happy to be seen by all the other people and admired by the checkout girl. Then it was home for a good long nap.

But today's excitement didn't end there! Oh no! There was a bath involved! (And I will not go into the wonders of the bath again as I feel we have covered it many times previously.) However, just after the bath was a naked time experience. Missy McGee was allowed to wander naked through the house right afterwords and discovered the true feeling of bare butts on the tile floor. This feeling of freedom ended rather abruptly though when she squatted down and had herself a little pee.

And did I mention the pillows? No? Well, Melly has this thing where she grabs all the pillows off the couch and walks around the house with them as well as snuggles on the floor with them. So as a special treat Melly and I went to the fabric store yesterday and got one really big pillow and two smaller pillows and I covered them in minky (that super soft fabric they make stuffed animals out of these days.) And she loves them. She has spent quite a lot of time face planting on her new pillows in the last few hours. It's good to be a baby.

And she still has three hours left before bedtime...
I wonder what else will happen today???

Case in point...we have more teeth! That's right, two new molars on the bottom...one on each side. Grow baby teeth, grow!

December

It's been a while since I just posted about life and so here goes...

Mr. C is working very hard. Right now I believe he is on a conference call about a project that he mostly completed a while back and is now doing the de-bugging. Very nice. :) Otherwise he is going to be here for the holidays. No out of town trips until February (that we know of) which means that we all get to have a nice holiday together.

Melly has managed to not knock her face on anything in the last few days and her black eye is almost healed. She is getting to be so much fun. She repeats sounds you give her and sometimes it actually sounds like words. Speaking of which we now say (and understand) two words... baby and bye-bye. Baby is used when she sees herself or pictures of herself and bye-bye is accompanies with a wave...always! She is big time into real food and wants to try anything and everything we eat. However she is really not into meant yet. Although I have been giving her spaghetti (the baby food version) and she seems to really like it. So cheers to that.

We are all ready for Christmas here. Grandma C and Grandpa J are coming to town next weekend until the 24th. And we are very excited about that. The tree has survived various attempts from the baby to pull it down, although she seems more intent on smelling it than actually pulling it. And it sure looks funny being nude for the first foot or so (nothing for the baby to pull down). But with presents piled on bookshelves around it we couldn't be happier.

And finally myself...as of this morning I have an audition for a city choir in January. I'm not sure what to sing for the audition, but I need to figure it out soon. It would be nice to have another singing group. I miss singing. I finished all of my holiday sewing...and most of Mr. C's stocking. Hopefully it will be ready by Christmas eve...but you never know. All of the presents are in the mail, all of the cards have been sent (if you haven't gotten one yet keep watching the mail...some went out this past weekend....

And now Melly needs attention so I will leave you...

Christmas Presents

Just what Danger Baby wanted for Christmas...
A shiner!

Sofa + tired baby = lots of crying

Christmas cards

Thank you everyone who gave me tree names. I was looking for Spruce. I really needed the help too as I still hadn't thought of it until I got emails and messages. So Cheers!

On Monday we went to the mall and took our family Holiday portrait.

The good: We had lots of fun and took some great pictures of the baby.

The bad: It was late in the afternoon so Melly was getting cranky.

The ugly: Way too many people at the mall.

The positive... holiday cards are all done and mostly all sent as of this morning.

Cheers!

Driving me crazy...

What is that other kind of Christmas tree...the Douglas Fir and the ???

A Christmas Poem

'Twas a month before Christmas and so don't you see,
It was the perfect time to go get my tree.
My mom took her camera and I took my dad
For just down the street good trees could be had.

Soon I was strapped in, all snug in my stroller,
We started the walk there before I could smolder.
With mom and her keen eye and me dressed like an elf,
I got so excited, I can't help myself!

Away to the tree farm we went like a flash,
past all the cows and little bits of trash.

The sun on the needles of the freshly cut trees,
made them sparkle and shine, surely to please.

When what to my wondering eye should appear
but the perfect tree and a man with some gear.
He fixed up our tree so lively and quick
I knew in a moment he knew every trick.

More rapid than eagles my daddy he came
to carry my tree home was his only aim.

As dry leaves fly before the wild hurricane fly
we made that tree stand straight into the sky.
Mom spoke not a word but went straight to work
and decorated my tree then turned with a jerk.

And kissing me gently all over my face
and giving a nod, into my PJs I race.

And now I will sigh as I'm tucked in tonight,
"Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!"

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing... Could a girl get any luckier?

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are thankful for our friends, our family, and that our dinner will be big and sweet.


Hope your turkey is just as yummy!

This week in the news

I have another job interview. It's funny, I didn't get the job I did apply for, but apparently I made a great impression as my resume was passed (unbeknownst to me) to a sister agency. They called me up last week and told me that the man I interviewed with really liked me and thought I would be a great fit with their agency. You know, this is how I ended up with the job at EHC. It's strange the way the world works. So we shall see how that goes.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day as I have the interview in the morning, Melly has a playdate in the late morning and I have to make munchies for the adults. Wednesday should be fun too as I have a dentist appointment int he am and yoga in the late am. Why did I pack this week so full of stuff? I don't know. I guess when you have a holiday coming up everyone wants to get things done before it happens.

And now a moment of delight...
Melly's new outfit brought to you by Grandma D

Please ignore the bizzar picture on the TV screen in the background...it was not intentional.

Late is better than never

Grandma D sent us some pictures that were taken way back in July. So without furth ado....

Your face may stay like that.

Much better.

Four letter word

S N O W

Today it snowed.

At my house.

Outside my window.

I blame Mr. C.

Alone again

Yesterday Mr. C went off on a business trip to MI. He will be gone until Thursday...and we miss him.

We also got our one year shots today. Let me tell you, it was not much fun. There was crying involved and lots of dirty looks. However the now 22.2 pound baby is doing quite well... sound asleep... for her first nap this week. *sigh* Yesterday was not fun.

But tomorrow will be better.

And we made up for it by sleeping through the night.

So all is not lost.

Sign up now!

So last night we took Melly to get her one year pictures. It was lots of fun. The lady said "I can take any pictures as long as she will sit still for a moment". At which point Mr. C and I started laughing. Sit still! Yah, right! However after many escape attempts, several tense moments of deciding to cry or not and a few pokes at the camera... we have some wonderful pictures. (No, I haven't scanned them in yet...give me a little time, will ya?)

So if you would like some of these magical moments, let me know and I will send you a few of my favorite ones.

Cheers!

Smartest baby ever!

Yesterday Ms. Melly decided to go after a remote control on the sofa. So she climbed up and played with it for a moment. Unfortunately, she then dropped it by accident and it fell on the floor. So, smart baby that she is, Melly took one look at the fallen remote and threw a pillow on the floor. As I contemplated why she would do that, her father said that she was making a soft landing place. I scoffed and said she threw it just because she was mad she dropped the remote. But low and behold, a few seconds later little Melly rolled off the sofa and onto her pillow for a soft landing and got back her remote!

It was, quite possibly, the best thing she has ever done.

Way too smart.

Expectations

It's often true that the expectation for an event is better than the event itself. And unfortunately I found this out this weekend. The family made the 2 hour drive to the Carolina Ren faire. It was...well... it was. I guess my problem was expecting it to be like the California big faires. I expect people in the street annoying me..ummm I mean talking to me. I expect more than half of the paying public to be in costume (of some kind). I expect to be amazed by the quality and quantity of handmade art and crafts. And sadly, I didn't get it. We had conversations with two whole street giggers and one was at the opening gate. We saw a few things that were very nice (I love the feather wreaths!) but mainly I saw things that could be gotten on ebay. I did see a few of my favorite shops (go bi-costal shops!!! But for the most part there was poor costuming choices by the people working, few street giggers, and little to no audience participation. *sigh*

I had no idea that working for the CA faires would make me this jaded.

Do I want to audition for next year at this faire? I have no idea. It would be a lot of work and not a whole lot of people wold agree with my methods... Where is my guild? Where are my girls? I want my faire back.

Extra added bonus

Little Melly just discovered that she too can get on the sofa...all by herself.

Now if she could only figure out that face first is not the way to get down...

Faire garb, take one

This weekend Mr. C and I will be visiting the NC faire. It's something we both like to do and I want to get a good look at it to see if I might be interested in working at it next year. And because I hate going to faires not in costume... I made a quick little costume for Melly. And it has turned out to be the cutest thing ever!!!

So for your entertainment...
(This is a little out of focus, but you get the idea.)





I think my favorite part is that it is the leftovers of a costume I made for someone else last year. So I didn't have to buy anything for this thing. She is so cute. I am so proud. Too bad she will out grow it in a month. :) I guess I will just have to make more...

If you give a baby a cupcake...

When you throw a baby a party, you must first make sure the decorations are up to her standards.

Then you must feed her wholesome foods such as potato chips and bread.

After that, you must offer the baby a cupcake while singing "Happy Birthday".

Then the baby will discover that the cupcake is just about the best thing ever and will devourer it.

At that point all bets are off.

Except, of course, that a good time will be had by all.

Cheers!

Early voting

This morning I finally put into words what I have been thinking for the past few weeks....early voting is the same as getting all of your shopping done before the holiday rush. You people who went out and started buying things in September...I bet you were voting last week! I know your kind: Too good to be rushing out five hours before the gifts are given. No last second voting for you. No, that would be too late.

*sigh*

Making us who waited until the correct day look like late-comers.

You know who you are.

I'm watching you.

A year in the life of Melly

The difference in a year.

Proud Uncle

(I think they like each other.)

Halloween pictures!

And here we are in all our glory! The family Halloween theme.


Here is Melly and Mr. C having a paci fight. Who will be the victor? Only time will tell...