What She Learned Next...

Clapping of hands! And I don't just mean all you folks out there in the blogosphere to reward her accomplishment because that IS her accomplishment. She sort of unconsciously clapped Weds night when she saw her bottle and blankie at bedtime, but by Thursday it was full-blown "Holy-cow-look-what-I-can-do-and-it-makes-NOISE" clapping. Today we were listening to Glenn Miller and she started clapping in time to Chattanooga Choo Choo. That's Grandpa's girl, eh? Either that, or she is just following in the footsteps of her mother, who had a crush on Tex Beneke at around age 5. I must admit though, by the time I was 6 he had been replaced by Davy Crockett. I mean, who can resist the King of the Wild Frontier?

Growth

I love to sit and watch Ella as she plays. It is so easy to see the wonder at new things and the amazing learning capacity she has. We often marvel that just a few short months ago she couldn't even lift her head. Now she is on the verge of walking, she "talks" and plays, and amuses herself for long periods of time. She currently is sitting on her play mat pulling toys carefully out of the toy box when she wants them. A few minutes ago, she reached in, dug around, found a book, pulled it out and sat back to look at it. She adores magazines and newspapers, plays her LeapFrog drum, tries to stand up on her own without something to pull up on, and carefully sorts her coasters. I can't wait to see what she learns next...

Beyond Tired

Teething, stuffed up nose, and exciting happenings have led to a tired baby. Tired baby? Means beyond tired parents. >yawn< It's been a busy and hectic week so far, too, which probably hasn't helped. Last night was the culmination of the week (I know, I know, it was only Tuesday) when we had the Praise Team for this Sabbath over to practice. Hubband forgot to tell me about it until around 130 pm but we were able to pull together the house and he watched the baby while I roasted some sweet potatoes, mixed up some cajun mayo, and did a quick parmesan and fresh rosemary breading and pan fry on some chicken. While the gang was singing after dinner I threw together some cinnamon chip cookies and cleaned the kitchen. Not too bad an effort, I felt, with only 4 hours notice! Stacy ran a few errands with me and helped get things prepped, which also was a big help.

Today is another long day at work with Andrew gone to class for the bulk of the day. I'm praying for nap. Lots and lots of nap.

Four Years (minus a few hours....)

At approximately 4:20 pm this afternoon Hubband and I will officially have been husband and wife for 4 years. As I type this, our daughter is racing around in her "car" and shrieking at the dog. Right there is a lot to show for our 4 years! I think back to the first time I met him, dressed in our 90's grunge finery, me barefoot, he with bright green contact lenses...me with waist-length blond hair, he with a short skater cut. That night, I told my roommate he was the kind of guy I would marry one day.

In the 13 years that I've known him he has been my confidant, friend, lover, shoulder to cry on, and comic relief. We have laughed long, cried hard, loved intensely. Thank you for the wonderful years, my Love. I look forward to all of the years and experiences yet to come.

Happy Anniversary!

(Do you think he knew what he was getting into when he proposed?)

A Weekend Video of Nothing Much

Just to make ya'll smile. Cheerios, funny faces, and then it is bath time...

Stress, a Leaky Roof, and the Gnat Frat Party at Our House,

I've made it a point over the years that I have been cataloging our daily (ok, so lately more like monthly) lives to not speak overmuch about work. Partly because how many of you REALLY care about my work life, and partly in an effort not get dooced. Im breaking my silence because right now our stresses over my work ARE our life, mostly. My company (name withheld to protect the innocent, namely, ME) creates a product that has recently sort of been made obsolete by new guidelines distributed by an industry group (not official, legal, etc, just a group of industry leaders trying to lead the industry). In discussions with various folks it has been revealed that there may be lay offs (sorry to be so vague folks, see above re: doocing). This morning that "maybe" became a "trying to avoid" which says to me "imminent". I have no idea if I would be one of those laid off (although there really are only 3 of us who are potentials), what if any kind of severance package I would receive, etc., but the fact that we live off of my income is making me quite quite worried about the whole thing. Please pray for us?

In other news, we came home from running errands in a downpour last night and found that the downpour was in the kitchen, too. Apparently one of the branches that fell during the wind storms over the last couple of months has gouged a hole in the shingles and/or leaf buildup has wedged them. We can't tell until it stops raining enough for Hubband to get up on the roof without worrying about sliding off in the mud. For the moment, there is a bucket in the attic that is collecting drips and a section of drywall in the kitchen ceiling that needs to be replaced.

Further kitchen news that just made my day... apparently there was a gnat frat party last night. They seem to have gotten drunk on the red wine in my red wine vinegar (who knows HOW they got in the bottle) and then drowned in the vinegar while they were unconcious. So far, the gnat police haven't charged me with anything (willful distribution of red wine vinegar to buggy minors?)--I'll keep you posted.

And now, the queen of the 40 minute nap has struck again and I need to go and get her majesty out of jail. Farewell.

Retrospective Tuesday

This last week we had an opportunity, thanks to Krissa (who got free tickets for us) and Stacy and Brian (who babysat for us) to go on our 2nd post-baby, baby-free outing. Krissa's radio station had some extra comp seats to the opening night of Avenue Q at the Orpheum here in Memphis and the 3 of us went. It was a blast! I wasn't sure what to expect, as my only exposure to the show had been through an Ace of Cakes episode where Duff and the gang made a replica of the stage in cake. I was pleasantly surprised not just at the show for entertainment quality, but of the number of messages that were presented and concepts put "out there" to get the audience thinking. We laughed pretty darn hard during the show, but I think we laughed even harder in the car on the way home. Krissa felt pretty good about the fact that she got me laughing so hard I snorted, and Hubband was on a rare roll of teasing me with full support from the peanut gallery.

And then there were TWO....

Teeth, that is. What did you THINK I meant?

Our girl was really grumpy this morning, and her left bottom tooth has popped through so I wasn't sure what the attitude was for until she hollered at me while I was changing her diaper and I noticed that instead of ONE white peak, there were TWO. Above photo was snapped when we were trying to convince her that food was not what was causing her mouth to hurt. You can see both little "toofs" front and center! Go on, look hard. I promise that's what they are....I've been bitten by them in many different places!