Sick baby

We have a cold.
We are not happy.

P.O.S.

We went to go look at a house yesterday. It was listed above our price range, but the seller was very willing to go down as long as it would sell quickly. So we went to take a look...
First off it was in the middle of nowhere. I mean really, nowhere. We drove up and down one lane twist roads into the wilds of the SC mountains hoping that we didn't fall off a cliff or get lost since all the roads looked like driveways. After only two false moves (dead ends) we found the house. (And we did better than the real estate agent who was so lost that we led her to the house.)

So after finding the place we discovered it had a shared driveway with the neighbor...the hostile neighbor. The hostile neighbor who owned a rooster, had no trespassing signs all over the shared driveway and oh, by the way, had filled up the driveway with broken auto parts so no one else could get to the house for sale. Well them what a good start!

Then there was the house itself. It was...special. Two bedrooms and one bath... with some carpet, a torn up kitchen, cover skylights, some mostly stripped of wallpaper from the sixties, and a basement door that was a board with a lock on it. Hmmmm.

So, needless to say we are not going to be buying that piece of property.

(P.O.S. stands for piece of sh*t, in case you were wondering)

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. W !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Diamond rings and other things

I was given a beautiful diamond solitary ring for a birth present from Mr. C. (And his mom) It is absolutely beautiful and I couldn't wait until I was not pregnant to wear it (swollen joints make rings not fit.). I wore it around my neck with my wedding band for several months and then decided to heck with it, I was going to wear my rings even if they were tight. It was then that I discovered that my post-pregnant finger size is bigger than it used to be. So I needed to size up my beautiful ring.

Across the street from me is a local small jeweler. I took the ring to him on Friday and he said it was an easy fix and he would have it back to me on Saturday afternoon. I told him that I worked across the street and was not going to be on this side of town until Monday so not to worry about it. He said that they were closed Monday's and he would have it for me on Tuesday. I said great and left. Pleased that I was helping out a local person.

I went back yesterday. The ring was not ready yet. I was a little miffed but he said that he would finish it before 5. (When I go home.) I received a call from him at 4:30 saying that he was going home early, but the ring was finished and he was going to bring it to me, at my work. (Apparently he was really sorry.) I said, well that's great but how am I going to pay you? He said all you have is a credit card? I said yes. He said well you can just come by later, when you have time. (Really? Are you kidding? Who is that trusting these days?) I had to argue with him that it was fine and I would come by at lunch today.

Moral of the story... Good people still exist in the world.

One more for the road

Great-grandma and some of our cousins sent Melly a bouncing horse. It moves and makes horse noises. What could possibly be better?

Easter Pictures!!!!!

Melly would like to welcome you to her Easter adventure and would like you to see her beautiful Easter dress.


On Sunday we (Melly, her parents, and her Grandparents) went to the Aquarium. It was quite the adventure. We decided that using the stroller would be bad so it was all about the babyD2. (AKA the Baby Bjorn)

Melly getting used to the new and exciting aquarium around her.


The first display we saw was the jellyfish. Lots of bright blue backgrounds and lit up displays make for good baby viewing.

Mr. C and Melly debating the merits of being a jellyfish.


Then we walked over to the children's area. We stared at the bright blue tropical fish and talked to the penguins. But most of all we loved the anchovies.

What could be more exciting than a tank full of anchovies?



Melly and me watching the anchovies... Will they really just keep swimming in a circle forever?


After the aquarium we went back to the hotel with the Grandparents and had a photo shoot.


We hope everyone else have a wonderful easter too!

Easter Pictures

Easter Sunday was a special day for the munchkin. We had our first trip of many to the Aquarium!

First, the spanky panties!



Then, the Dress!



More pictures of Mel-belle at the Aquarium when we get them back from the grandparents!

Mamma called the Doctor and the Doctor said...

No more monkeys jumping on the bed.

Or maybe... "Your baby is strong as hell".

Babies take a long time to go back to normal after intestinal distress. This what we learned today when Mr. C took little Melly in to see the doctor after four days of nasty diapers. Fortunately, she is happy, well hydrated, and doesn't seem to care at all that she stinks. Hopefully she will be better soon because right now she is not sleeping as much due to extreme butt action.

Speaking of sleeping, a certain little wiggle butt is no longer allowed to sleep in her swing. This morning (and I use morning lightly as it was 2:30am) we found her turned all the way sideways. Not sure how she got there. Not going to let her do it again. She was one wiggle away from being dumped onto the floor. Yes, we could strap her in... but then we couldn't use the blankets under her to pad her from the plastic bottom or the cold. So the 'baby steps' to the crib end here. Now it's time for her to be a big girl.

Oh yes, 14lbs 2oz. (this is not the weight gain of a sick baby)

Another weekend gone

Just another weekend here in sunny SC. Ok so it was windy and slightly rainy but still a very nice weekend.

Yesterday I went out to a guild sewing day and Mr. C went to play with his friends and Ms. M went to her old sitter. This was mostly due to the old sitter being sad that she is not the current sitter and wanting time with Ms. M. However the positive was I had a lovely day sewing and a wonderful sushi lunch courtesy of Ms. B. Anyway, I digress.

Today we went downtown, got some new (used) books and let Melly stare out at the world. (which she did quite cheerfully). We made some friends at the restaurant we had lunch at. And they told me all about their grown up children. (Melly was quite pleased at the attention). Then we came home for a little baby snuggle time and playing. A very wonderful day, if I do say so myself.

The only negative is the baby has digestive issues. SO she is very smelly... slightly runny... and a little sick. But as I am exhibiting the same symptoms... It's probably my fault. Or more realistically, it's probably the sushi's fault. (But gosh darn it I love sushi boats!!!)

In other news I have done a little internet shopping. I have finally decided to get some nice shoes for work (Docs) so my feet won't hurt and I won't be wearing smelly tennis shoes. And I bought a certain brother of mine a birthday present. (Keep your eyes on the post box)

Anyway. We still had some fun time for pictures... SO here she is... The little princess herself...(Not so hot a picture of Mr. C, but such a cute baby)


Drinking like a big girl. Did I mention that we discovered her favorite color is this shade of blue? She will stare forever at things this color... my pants, a cup, her toy. It's adorable!

So much to say

Here it is...in sparkling technocolor. Well, maybe not but stuff is afoot.

We lost the condo but not the war. Currently we are talking to a lady who deals in bank foreclosures. She says that there are lots of places for quick sale out in the mountains that are in our price range. All we need to do is get a pre-approval for however much the bank can give us. (Sound familiar?) Well apparently getting a loan for a house is easier than getting a loan for a condo. There is some strange thing where they don't want to give you a loan if the whole complex is less than 51% sold. I don't understand but I will go with the flow.

Onto Melly...She started with the new daycare lady this week. What is the verdict? The new lady seems very nice and professional. She fills out this little slip of paper every day and lets Mr. C and I know exactly how much food, how many diapers, and how many naps Mel-Belle has had. Which is pretty darn cool. Melly seems to like her too. They go on long walks around town and look at fun things like the ducks and the playground. Ms. L (the daycare lady) has all kinds of wonderful things to say about Melly. The only current issue is that Melly has not completely settled down yet and doesn't take long naps. Which means she is exhausted by the time she comes home and falls asleep way too early. (Which means we're up at 4am) But I am sure she will get used to her new surrounding and everything will be fine. She also has a companion how. He is 3 years old and very rowdy. But he apparently likes her a lot too as he apparently asked his mom yesterday what "the name of their baby was again". His baby. How cute!!!

We also had our first weekend of Ren faire. It was not so great. Too much going on. a tired mom, and a tired baby makes for poor company. We spent three hours on site on Saturday and the rest of the day at the hotel calming down. Sunday was better we were on site for five hours... granted one of us was asleep and being carried around for most of it. (Here is a hint, it wasn't me.) But the drive up and down was pleasant with a sleeping girl and company for me. And Mr. C got a weekend to re-live his babyless days. So it was not a total loss. Plus baby in costume=adorable.

And now we are headed straight into another weekend...
Hold your breath, we're going under.

Game Over

Condo news flash... No loan for us. So no condo for us.

And now back to your regularly scheduled lives.

My Mom Hates Me

This picture is being posted despite the protests of both the munchkin and her father.

Sleepy girl

A little Melly break on a Tuesday morning...


Speaking of which... I found childcare!!! Affordable at that. A very nice lady who just moved here from Arizona is going to be watching Melly starting next week. She is affordable, she is sweet, she has a three year old son of her own and she is locate on my drive home. Yahoo!!!! I am very excited about this. Little Melly, in her cranky night time mood was quite happy to be with this nice woman. She even took hold of her hand and shoved each and every finger into her mouth. A stunning show of support if ever I saw one.

I am still a little concerned about having her in a house with other kids. But I need to get over it and let her get acclimated to others. Melly against boys... I think she will be able to hold her own.

Saga of the condo

You know how happy I was a few short weeks ago? Well here is the deal now...

The loan we were pre-approved for was canceled. The loan lady found this out last Monday. She then started looking for another loan to fill in for the one that went away. The one she found was one that we could not afford. (The payments were too high and we would have to live in the condo for a long time before we would have enough equity to move out) And that is where we are sitting right now. We are still in escrow but it looks like our funding is falling through (stupid debt to income ratio) and we will not be getting the condo. Both Mr. C and the loan lady are still working on it...but it doesn't look good. *sigh* Unless we can come up with 11,000 bucks in the next week (to pay off a car loan and then we could get the original loan we wanted but didn't quite make) it looks like we will not be buying our own place yet. Suck.

On the plus side, I think I found daycare today. I am going to go and talk to the nice lady tonight and we will see what happens. She is in our price range and she is located very close to where Mr. C works and to where my work will be moving in a few months.

Outlook cloudy, try again later.

4 month check-up

Ms. Melly...
Weighing in at 13lbs 11oz.
Length...26 1/2 inches.

Yah big fat babies!!!!

Oopse, forgot to say the winner is Denise with a guess of 13lbs 8oz. Mine was second closest with 14lbs. Denise, you candy is on it's way.

A picture is worth a thousand

Melly really likes snuggling with stuffed doggies. And here is one that was given to her by Mr. J. Enjoy, she sure did.



Her daddy has figured out a new rocking game and this is the face she makes while playing. Think she likes it?

The big storm

So every news station has been saying how terrible this storm is going to be. How we are going to get 2-3" of rain with huge gusts of wind up to 60 mph... and what is going on? Not a whole lot. We had some wind. We had some rain. We also had some slush. But nothing more exciting than that. So don't believe everything you hear.

It's Chinese New Year today. We are moving out of the year of the pig and into the rat.

And last but not least...a baby fix.

Another few pictures

These are the beautiful flowers that Mr. C had sent to my work on Valentine's day. They are still sitting on my desk... but not quite as pretty. And they were a huge and wonderful surprise.



Last Friday my office held the last of the baby showers. This is Mel-Belle doing her best imitation of a troll hording her treasures.

The cost of being born

**Warning, this is a rant. You have been warned**
I am currently at war with the hospital billing company. Which I guess is better than being at war with the hospital... which I was earlier this year. I am not exactly sure why they keep sending my bills when my insurance company is supposed to be covering the whole thing. But here I am, calling the companies on my pumping breaks and making a big fuss. The current theory is that most people, when given a bill, will just pay it and move on. Thus getting the billing agency all the money they think they want instead of what they agreed to get from the agency contracted with the insurance people. Confusing? Yup. But after several phone calls and some very helpful claims people I am once again sitting here waiting for a debt to be erased. And let me tell you how tired of calling these people I am. However I also found out how much having a baby costs in SC county...

are you ready for this?

Upwards of $50,000!!!!

That's $30,000 for the hospital (the room, food and nurses) and $20,000+ for the doctors. Whoa!!!

Who knew that being brought into the world was so expensive? And that is not covering the cost of the OB for the previous 9 months or the tests pre-labor or even the vitamins and antibiotics. Being born is an expensive proposition.

I know too many posts in one day....

This is the actual outside of our new house. Our new balcony and our bedroom windows.



This is the kitchen dining area of the new place.


The inside of the master looking at our walk in closet. (This picture taken with my back to the window)


And here we have Melly's new room. (This picture taken with my back to the window)

Grandma's pictures

This past weekend we were visited by Grandma D. She took some wonderful pictures.

This one was just after her bath.


This is in our new living room... More pictures of the condo to come


My Baby cakes.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

And a special I love you goes out to Mr. C who surprised me with flowers and candy at the office.

The childcare crisis at home

Last night, just when everything was going so well in our lives, I got some crushing news. The woman who is looking after Melly has to go to Florida to look after her dying father. He has been given a prognosis of between three months and three years. And let me tell you how many ways this sucks. It's awful because he is dying. It's terrible because she doesn't want to go. It's crappy for Melly since they have bonded. And it's just about the end of the world for me and Mr. C as we are about to have a huge mortgage and our disposable income (how we were paying for childcare) is very small now.

And what are we going to do about it? Well last night I managed to completely fall apart. Crying and blubbering. And after a while I realized that no matter how much crying we did, that was not going to solve the problem. (Unfortunately once you start down the feeling sorry for yourself path it's hard to come back up and be rational) Then Mr. C and I brainstormed ideas of what to do. All of the places I looked at on the internet were over $1000 a month and had waiting lists. (Too much and we need someone in a month and a half.) Then we thought about all the people we know who don't work and we would trust with our baby. (Unfortunately, the list of that is extremely small, being only one person in the area: Polarmouse. Fortunately you are off the hook, keep reading.) Then I remembered the childcare switchboard which is located one cube over from me at work.

This morning, after setting my stuff down, I walked over to talk with them. Within twenty minutes I had a list of eleven people (well ten people if you don't count the woman who only speaks Spanish) who were all within two miles of our new house and whose rates we can probably afford and who have openings for a four month old baby. Now we need to talk with them, find out who we like best and figure out how we are going to find an extra 200 bucks a month to pay her.

Still in minor crisis mode, but no where near where I managed to get last night.

Don't sneak up on new mommies

We had a wonderful weekend. Lots of signing paperwork for the condo and spending time in the bright sunshine. We even had a visit from one of the Grandmas. It was very nice and relaxing and full of fun!

On Saturday night we all went out to dinner. It was a little late and Melly had been awake all day and was getting tired and over stimulated. So as soon as the dinner was over I took her in her stroller outside to get some fresh air and away from the noise. (And hopefully to fall asleep). I was out there alone for a few minutes waiting for Mr. C and his mom to pay and leave.

I stopped and stretched for a second and took my hand off the stroller. Then out of the corner of my eye I noticed someone running straight for me and the baby. I reached for the stroller and held it in a death grip and balled up my right hand to give the attacker a punch in the face....and stopped about a half second before punching Mr. C in the face for coming after my child.

What did we learn from this little story? Don't charge a woman with a stroller, no matter how well you know her.

WAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

WE GOT THE LOAN!!!!!!!!

WE"RE BUYING THE CONDO!!!!!!!!!!!

Belly, take two

So this is what a baby belly looks like after she...ummmm...evacuates a little...

Just another night...

(Look at that baby belly!!!)

Milestones

Yesterday was Mel-belle's 3 month birthday. She is becoming quite the charmer with the sitting up and the smiling and the laughing. My personal favorite time is when she ends a crying fit by looking directly at you and saying "Meh!". Totally priceless.

Meanwhile the milestone she passed yesterday was the official "Baby's first spewing milk out of her nose" moment. (Unfortunately I was not there to witness it, but I have been assured that it was spectacular.) Apparently the little missy was busy chugging a bottle and coughed at the same time as she slurped. Thus causing milk to go up her nose. And a moment after she realized what she had done she screamed bloody murder. (When I was told about this later that night I laughed so hard my side hurt.)

In other news, yesterday I also took the first of many Russian classes. I am kind of sad that I have been losing my language skills and have been looking for a place to get them back. So I enrolled in a Russian class through the parks and rec people. It's fun. I decided to take the beginning class because even though I speak some Russian I am missing lots of fundamentals... like cursive and vocabulary. (There was only so much I needed to talk about on a daily basis.) The first few classes are going to be really easy for me, but hopefully they will become a little more challenging as the weeks go on. (I get 12 weeks!)

The condo is still in the question phase. Well, the loan for the condo is still in the question phase. The loan lady asked us if we could come up with more money for a down payment and we are struggling to put some together. (So far we have managed to beg, borrow and steal all but 1000 dollars of what she asked for, go us!) Another positive is that the bank sent an appraiser to the condo yesterday. Which means that we have probably passed their income phase and moved on to the 'is this a reasonable amount of money to give them' phase. I still have high hopes even though it is taking a long time. I really would love to be able to stay in the area.

And now I have to get back to work.

This message has been sanitized for your protection.

Bath time

(to the tune of Rubber Duckie)

Little Melly, You’re the one.
You make bath time lots of fun.
Little Melly I’m awfully fond of you.

On the day that we,
Make our way to the tubbie.
I see a little baby who‘s awful cute and real smelly,
Washing her belly.

Little Melly, Joy of Joys.
When I bathe you, you make noise.
Little Melly I’m awfully fond of you.

Little Melly I’m awfully fond of you.

This Week in Babyland

No more pictures. I'm ready for my nap.



Learning how to sit up and discovering our feet are just some of the excitement we experienced this week.


I think we have found the best color for Miss. Mel-belle.

Memories

So I'm reading back over my blog for the past few years, just to see where I have been coming from. Last year I proclaimed it the year of being girly. And I guess you can't get much more girly than having a baby. So I probably I won that. Some other girly things I did? Well, I am a secretary, a notoriously girly profession (now, not historically), I held sewing workshops, got several pedicures, has a baby shower, and all of that amounts to a pretty girly year. Go me. I accomplished a goal I was going for.

And with that... I am off to make coffee for the next seminar that is starting in half an hour.

Go me.

Just for Fluffy

When I grow up I'm gonna be a ballerina.

The look on her face in both of these is priceless. And totally wonderful. Thank you Fluffy for the beautiful knit things!

Life gets good...

So last week on a whim I was searching the Craigslist.org housing postings. I do this a lot not really because I think we will be able to find a house that we can afford, but because I like to know how much houses cost... and I an nosy like that. Anyway I came across an ad for a condo, two bedrooms four blocks from the beach, that was being listed as a measure J house (for those of you not in SC, that means reduced price so a person making a median income could afford it). And all they wanted the person buying it to come up with was $3000 bucks. So I emailed it to Mr. C as we fall nicely in the measure J limits. Mr. C called up the people and we made an appointment to look at the condo. Now, I was getting excited. We had _talked_ about looking at places before but never actually done it. The following Friday we both took our lunch breaks early and went over to see the place. We toured the facilities and looked at three different condos and decided that one of them would be perfect for our little family. So we took a deep breath and put down the deposit and made an appointment to see a loan specialist the next day.

Saturday... We arrived with all kinds of paperwork, two years worth of tax receipts, pay stubs, IRAs, college funds and all the paperwork that proves that while we have not much liquid assets we have lots of other money hidden away. And after taking all of that into consideration we applied for a loan. What is really cool about this loan is the extremely low APR and the help with down payments and all of that fun. So we should be hearing back in the next day or so if we are approved. But the loan lady seem to think it was a sure thing and was very positive.

What is the moral to this story? If everything goes according to plan we will be signing papers next Saturday and buying a condo!!!!!!!!!!!! A house of our own!!!!!!!!! It so exciting I might just pop. I have spent the last two days looking at appliances and lighting fixtures and paint cards. There is so much to think about and do... I hope we get the call soon or I might explode!

You want more? OK!

Alternative baby!



This is what angels must look like.

More Baby!

And here is my sleepy girl.

A happy baby learning that belly time is happy time.

Ramdon faces of cuteness

Baby's first Christmas. AKA: Silent night.

What's over there?

A brand new car!!!

We received a phone call last night from a company that Mr. C entered a drawing with. They informed him that we had been chosen to win one of the top five prizes and all we had to do was come on out and pull a piece of paper out from a bowl and see what we had won. It could be anything from a cruise to Mexico, a trip to Hawaii, or a brand new car worth up to $100,000!!! And all we have to do is show up!!! Well, that's not quite true. We also have to sit through a 90 min presentation on time shares.

Now, I don't know about you, but that sounds suspicious to me. However they said that we would not be required to buy or sign up for anything. And Mr. C asked them to email him all the info. And they were being supported by the Dicken's Faire, which is pretty reputable. (mostly...in recent years)

I don't mind sitting in on a presentation. 90 min seems like a small price to pay for a nice prize. However there is a catch (there is always a catch) they do not want children under the age of 10 there. So we will need to figure out what to do with Mel-Belle. Perhaps I can convince someone to masquerade as me so I can sit in the car with Melly and wait and while we still get the prize. Or possible have someone sit in the car with Melly while I go to the presentation so I can come out and rescue/feed if necessary.

Who knows, maybe they are legit. Maybe we will have a new car on Sunday. Or maybe we will get a nice lunch with a friend and screw the stinking time share anyway.

Rain and Snow

We are currently getting slammed with a huge storm. There are power lines down, trees down, gusts of wind up to 55 miles an hour... And we live in the woods. What does this mean for little old us? Well, it means that our power has been flickering all night and morning. It means that bits of stuff are falling all over the roof and making lots of noise and it means that all the roads off the hill and into town are closed due to trees falling and downed power lines. I love a good storm.

So this morning we were up and ready for work on time. Mel-Belle and I were in the car and driving down the hill right on schedule. I was driving over large sticks and pine fronds. I was feeling like quite the rough rider and then it happened. Right at the base of the road were we meet the main highway there was a tree. So I turned around and headed back home. I figured I should tell my hubby about the tree so he didn't waste his time and I was still in blackout cell phone area.

I got back home and told him. He said that the other road into town was out because of power lines. Well crap. I am the only person in the office today. No one to call and no one to cover while I try and get down off the hill. So I bundled the baby back into the car and headed back down towards the tree hoping that one of the big construction trucks that had passed me had decided to stop and deal with the tree for everyone. By the time I made it down there the baby was screaming bloody murder and the tree was being cut away by some nice neighbors. So we waited.

And not long afterwards we were being ushered through and all was right with the world... Except for the screaming baby. So we pulled over at the beach and I did a lap change (remember I can't be outside of the car as the storm is still pouring down water on my head.) and gave her a little food to calm her and we were off... an hour behind, but here non the less. I just received a call from Mr. C, apparently after all the work we put into getting to work this morning, his office has no power.

And here I am goofing off instead of working. But I needed to tell my story to someone. Thanks for listening. I now return you to your normally scheduled program.

Happy New Year

This is the cutest picture of Mel-belle yet. (Look, Mr. C fixed it, no more sideways)

It's 2008 and looking back on the past year I have absolutely no idea where this one will lead us. All I know is life seems to be getting better and lots of fun.

So here is to all of the people who I love and the people who love me.

Happy New Year!!!

Baby alone time

I don't know if this is normal baby behavior but once or twice a day little Melly is inconsolable. I change her diaper, I feed her, I sing to her, I rock her, I sit her up, I let her climb on me but to no avail. The only thing that will make her happy is laying down alone. She likes people near her, but not touching her. Is this normal?

The best nap on earth

Little Melly went to the doctor yesterday. She was weighed... 9 pounds 4 oz and measured 21.5 in. Which, according to the doctor, puts her in the 20th percentile for body weight and size and the 75th for head size. She also got the first in a series of shots. After her three shots she screamed her poor little head off for thirty five min afterwards. Poor honey. However, one of the immunizations is administered orally...and it was very sugary and she loved it! Lots of lip smacking and smiling. Just like her mama. And the fun part? She now fits in size one diapers and doesn't fit into some of her newborn clothes. So I kept the smallest one she fit into and donated the rest to a poor woman who is having her baby next month and doesn't have family support. See, I'm being so good!

Of course because of the shots she was then cranky all night. Well, all afternoon she was asleep and feverish and then she was up and cranky all night. So this is me... on about three hours of sleep. I kind of want to wake her up every forty five min to show her what it is like. But I'm not that mean. However I did put her into her jumper that says baby on it because she needed to be labeled a baby for the 35 min scream-fest yesterday and then for waking me up all night I put pooh on her head. And because of her big old head, the hat fits perfectly.

And today I went to the OB for the last time... or so I thought it was the last time. But it turns out that I am not healing as well as they want and am now on antibiotics and have to go back in two weeks. Or, not really two weeks since that would be Christmas.so the week after. So, I go back one more time. Hopefully all goes well then because I am tired of hurting.

And now, with all of this over share, I am going to deal with my crying child.

Night.

Family Portrait

Dicken's Fair

Yesterday we bundled up the baby and drove up to SF for the fair. It was great. Well... mostly great. I felt wierd not being in costume and sad that I wasn't singing with the carolers...but I got to introduce Melody to lots of people who have been wanting to meet her for several months. We walked around for a while and spoke to people and then sat down and watched Ms. B kick some serious butt in Pitates of Penzance. My favorite part was every time that she hit a high note the baby would jump. Highly entertaining. My friends are way too cool!

Afterwards we went to get a family portrait. It was one of those dress up pictures and all of us together look so very good. I can't wait to put the picture up on the wall. I also can't wait to post the picture here.

The weekend would have been perfect if I had not gotten sick. That's right. I have a cold and I am hoping very much that little miss won't catch it. There is a lot of handwashing and not being around the baby as much as possible. Unfortunately she depends on me so much and Mr. C goes back to full time work tomorrow so I don't have much of a choice but to be with her a lot.

Speaking of which we went to the Doctor last week and Ms. M was 8 1/2 lbs. So hopefully when we go back this week she will be 9. Her fat little legs and arms are perhaps the cutest thing ever!

And now I will fold laundry...

Happy Holidays!

Giving Thanks

In the spirit of the holiday:

I am thankful for my family. I not only have they all stepped up and wanted to be very involved in the new baby's life, they are also asking about me and Mr. C.

I am thankful for my friends. I may have fallen off the side of the planet for a while, but they keep calling and wanting to hear from me.

I am thankful for Mr. C. He does so much for me and even when it seems I am taking him for granted, I am still busy loving him with all I've got.

I am thankful for my sweet baby who is beautiful, healthy, and making my life impossible. I am also thankful that she will continue to make my life hard from now on.

I am thankful for my job and the ladies I work with for being so understanding.

I am thankful for all the lovely people at the hospital and the doctors who are making my life more difficult but really have my (and my baby's) best interest at heart.

I am thankful that I have a roof over my head, enough food, and all of my basic needs taken care of as well as many of my not basic needs.

I am thankful that I have lots to look forward to.

I am thankful for the Macy's Thanksgiving parade. It is one of the few constants and is the true start to the holiday season.

I am thankful for Thanksgiving as it is a time to get together with family and catch up before the stress of Christmas.