The Greeaaat Geauga County Fair

On Sunday and Monday, my mom and I took E to the fair. Long story short, it was hot, it was fun and I can't wait till next year. I'm sure we can time a visit back up here around then.

A few highlights to supplement that long-short story:
~E loves watching the horses and was enthralled during the Draft and Pony Show. I think she liked the jingling from the harnesses.
~The KHS Marching Band sounds horrible and is sooo tiny now compared to when we were in it.
~I only saw one person I knew. I think that's a new record.
~I drank at least 300 oz of birch beer. Refills were just 2$, and I wasn't letting that deal get away!
~I successfully nursed in public (really public public) 5 times. I consider myself a pro now. It was an excellent crash course.
~E was in the Mei Tai almost all day both days and was happy as a clam. Until bedtime. Then she realized she wasn't in her bed and took unhappy to a whole new level.

Loving the horses!

Eying grandma's onion rings.

And here I thought I had escaped having my picture taken today.
And yet again, grandma loves the camera. E loves her Mei Tai.

And that was the fair!

How would I entertain her without the cats?

"You can't hide for long!"

"Cause I will find you!"

"Even if you can't see me!"

Dear Mr. Too Impatient to Chill for a Second

Dear Mr. Too Impatient to Chill for a Second

I'm sorry that when I happened to pull out into the road today I pulled out too close to you. I had never realized that over 1000 feet would not be enough distance. I apologize for the fact that by the time you came screeching up behind me, I was only going the speed limit. I was unaware that we are now required to go at least 20 mph over it on that road now. Please forgive me for failing to increase my speed in response to your bright lights being flipped on and off several times, and to your ability to hit your horn so many times in a row. It was truly impressive. However, my sleeping daughter was not impressed, as she was quickly woken up with your noise. I felt it only fair to retaliate. I'm sorry your weaving back and forth in your lane did not prompt me to speed back up the 10 mph to the posted speed limit. I do want to assure you that I was seriously considering break checking you, however, I am quite fond of my obnoxiously slow vehicle. I am so glad that you were able to seize the moment to fly past me while no cars were coming, even though it was a no passing zone. I do hope that no bugs got on that hand of yours that was outstretched from the window, pointing towards me. It is such a shame that as you crested the hill in front of me, you happened to pass one of our town's finest police officers. I truly am sorry that I had to turn before I got the chance to pass you, as you were being pulled over. I do hope you told the person you were on the phone with all about it.

Sincerely,
The Woman Who Drives Like a Normal Person

Half way

The whole theory behind the title to this blog was how this year of "husband on another continent" would seem to take so long, that it would seem like more than just a year. Well, 7 1/2 months into this adventure, and here we celebrate the halfway point. That's right. Do the math. 7 1/2 plus 7 1/2 equals 15. Clearly, this will be the longest year.

I frequent a message board for military wives. It's a wonderful place. There's even a special section just for deployment talk. Which was normally a blessing. Until I hit this point in the time line and one by one, women start posting about getting their loved ones back in the next few days or weeks. A normally joyous occasion, where I should be happy for them. But, I'm not. I'm self centered. I sit here and read their posts and remember when they were just beginning the journey. A month after I did. That's disheartening. One of ours equals two of theirs. And the Army is claiming the rising suicide rates have nothing to do with the deployments. (Google it. I dare you).

I got a bottle of wine, and planned to make a real meal for myself. A halfway hurrah, of sorts. Instead I watched My Girl, drank a glass too many of wine (only two, but we'll touch the lack of tolerance in some future post) and ate half of the dessert. Fitting, I think.

I'm HOT!

"Onnnnne hot mamaaaa"

Please, Dear Lord, get this song out of my head!

Hot is clearly the theme of the day.

This morning I burned my poor little fingers trying to gently extract my crumbling English muffin from the toaster oven, while balancing a hungry baby (who was intent on giving me a hickey on my shoulder). Rather than drop the baby, I dropped the muffin. It's still sitting at the bottom of the oven, as though 14 hours hasn't been long enough to cool down for me to get it out.

Around noon we headed out to the Nissan dealership to get the AC looked at in my car. According to them, I'm an idiot and just don't know how to use it. Seriously. The guy was actually explaining to me how to use the air conditioning in my car, as though I was 16 and daddy just bought me my first one. Morons. I know that I am not imagining things - there is no good explanation as to why I would have icicles hanging off my nose with it blowing on low last summer (in Georgia, land of Hotter than Hell, didn't see a day below 90 for a freaking month!) and then this summer I find myself sitting there sweating with it blowing on high. HIGH, and I'm still hot after driving for a half hour (in Ohio, where it's a measly low 80s consistently). *Sigh* Maybe I'll just take my Daddy in with me next time :-P

Later in the afternoon, as the apartment reached it's daily oven-like temperatures (I seem to have AC issues a lot), we went down for a swim. Possibly the last one of the year. That makes me sad. I'm not looking forward to possibly having to resort to using the base pool next year. I'm going to miss this one. It was actually clean. All the time. Imagine that!

And now, it's still hot in the apartment. The AC will kick on and I'll be left shivering, but once it thinks that it has cooled the place down sufficiently, it turns off, and I'm left with that wave of heat as soon as the air stops blowing. It doesn't even matter how cold I set it.

I'll look back at this post mid-December and wish to have being hot as my problem again :-)

Tarts

tart

adjective
1. tasting sour like a lemon [syn: lemony]
2. harsh; "sharp criticism"; "a sharp-worded exchange"; "a tart remark" [syn: sharp]

noun
1. a woman who engages in sexual intercourse for money
2. a small open pie with a fruit filling
3. a pastry cup with a filling of fruit or custard and no top crust


Nope, none of those. Today the definition of a tart is - something that smells wonderful, looks like an actual pastry tart, also looks like a candle, yet has no wick. This is unfamiliar territory for me. A wonderful mama sent one of her tarts along with a diaper I purchased. (http://www.thetartshack.com/store/) It's Lemongrass and smells absolutely divine. I can't wait to figure out what to do with it . . . I am under the impression that you melt them in a tart burner (imagine that, clever name) and it smells up the house. In a good way. Unfortunately, I promised myself I wouldn't spend anymore money on frivolous stuff this week (after it cost 50$ to fill up the gas tank). Tart burner, tart burner, tart burner. How to make my own tart burner . . .

She rolls

Well, she's been rolling over for quite a while now, but I finally charged the camera and got it on tape. Hopefully much to the delight of the husband. I have another video for him, in which I look like a complete goofball, so I'm still debating on posting it here or letting him suffer and have to wait for Photobucket to load for him.

Speaking of internet . . . I am so grateful that we've been able to use the webcams TWICE this weekend. I was seriously deprived for a while there. I think he's pretty darn sexy (obviously, seeing as to how I married him and all) and it sure is nice to see him. But, I unfortunately get spoiled way too easily. Now, phone calls just aren't cutting it. Either I have nothing to say, or he has nothing to say (hahaha, okay, so not so often on that one :-), or he's in front of his coworkers and I can tell just by the tone of his voice . . . it's always something. I kinda feel a fight brewing, sort of a premonition. Fights always seem to happen when phone calls get weird. But somehow, we're perfectly fine on the webcams.

It could be worse. I'll stop complaining now. Honest.

Anyways, here's the girly . . .

Let the Oral Fixation Begin!

East Cleveland, Yo!

From now on I'm voicing all my complaints right here. There's apparently some freaky prayer answering vibes stemming from this blog. And I'm not questioning it.

E peacefully succumbed to sleep all three times today. Morning nap - out like a light. Afternoon nap - not a whimper. Bedtime - passed out being carried into the bedroom; promptly rolled on her side and stuck a thumb in her mouth as soon as she hit the sheets.

Of course, this could have a lot to do with her wearing herself out quite a bit today, but I'm not really going to question it. I'll just have to piss her off to the point of no return more often . . .

This afternoon we loaded up in the car with my perpetually late and indecisive mother (Her: "What time is the appointment?" Me: "1:30, I'm leaving at 12:30." Her: "Oh, 12:30 . . . I don't know if I'll make it." Me: "It's 10:30, why wouldn't you make it here by then?" Her: "Well, I have to get ready. And feed the dogs." Me: "Uh-huh, and how does that take two hours?" Her: "If you don't want me to come then just say so." Me: *sigh*). She was exceptionally quiet, sulking cause I told her to get moving and make up her damn mind. She still came, but did her darnedest to make the day miserable. We were headed to Cleveland Clinic, to get an ultrasound on a birthmark on E's lower back. Apparently this particular placement of a birthmark has a 1 in 1000 chance of being an indicator of the spinal cord either not properly developing or fusing in the wrong place.

It was "Don't Have a Clue How to Drive Day". I almost got hit three times, once while cruising at 70 down 480. It was a blast. And then we got lost. Assured by mother dearest that she knew exactly where we were going, but still armed with my Mapquest directions, we found ourselves on E 55th, wondering where we were supposed to turn next. But, I found it, despite numerous protests, by you know who, that we should pull over and ask "that guy there" where to go. Of course, she got mad at me each time I just kept driving. Obviously pulling over to ask the crackheads on the street who were obviously involved in something to do with money exchanging hands was the perfect solution. (How on earth have I survived to adulthood? Seriously, how?)

So, I found it. And parked in the parking garage. Not behind the random apartment building as suggested.

I carried E into the hospital, while being nagged for not using the stroller ("Seriously, woman, who is carrying the child? Not you, so shut it!"). We mazed our way down to Pediatrics and checked in. After waiting a bit, the ultrasound tech came and took us to the room. E had to be nekkid (which she loved) and lying on her stomach (which she hated). Actually, she was fine for the first 20 minutes or so.

The tech went to work, doing her thing. And you know who started with the questions. Like a 5 year old. "What are you doing?" "Why?" "Why?" The tech was awesome though and told her she "wasn't going to be answering her because she really needed to concentrate and couldn't lose count". Which, of course, pissed my mom off. How dare they do their job and not talk to her!

She (the tech) did explain that normally this procedure is done very early, usually within the first few weeks, because what they are looking for is behind the spine and as the spine fuses, it's harder and harder to see. Makes perfect sense. You'd think. Because it was so difficult to see, another tech and the doctor were brought in to also look, so they wouldn't miss anything. E made it through the first one, and then started crying. She cried through the rest of it, mad cause she was on her belly. She survived though. No harm done. Meanwhile, whenever we were alone in the room, my mom was going off about how these people must not know anything if they had to keep calling more people in. *sigh* Yeah, that. Cause we don't really want them to make sure nothing is wrong.

Anyways, E is fine. Perfect spinal cord. Her pediatrician is clearly not that great though, since it took her this long to decide to get this checked out. I'm losing faith in this lady.

I knew there would be a point when I would crack and all this buddy-buddy time with my mom would hit overload. Today was it. I'm packing my bags and taking E on vacation. We're going to stay in a beach house on Tybee for a few weeks. (yeah, suuuure, I wish - one of these days I suppose we'll get out of here).

Deep Breath

I have that tight feeling in my chest. Like I'm on the quick road to another breakdown. I can't quite take that deep breath that I so desperately need.

E has hit some stage in her little world where she screams bloody murder before she falls asleep. No matter if it's before she's tired, right when she should go down, or too late. Naps and everything. She will kick and flail and squirm and squirm and squirm, crying the whole time. Her whole body goes stiff and she fights everything with all her might. I'm dreading her waking up, because now I have to go through this whole fight every time.

Sigh.

I need my husband.

I haven't said that in a while.

But I do.

Get Human!

http://gethuman.com/

I am in love with this website. I just accomplished what would have probably taken hours, in just a half hour. So very, very cool.

4 Months and a Pony Ride

So, I'm a little behind. Friday E turned 4 months and she got her first pony ride. It was an eventful day.

Four months old. She's a happy girl!

Much more fun on the tummy!

Yay for ponies!!

Relaxing after that tiring ride.

Keeping up with the conversation.

:-)

Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty

I Cook.

Yes. I do. Really. I'm not even joking.

Last night I made a cheesy broccoli rice casserole, a shrimp sauce over pasta, chicken pot pie casserole and meatballs. Today I took all of that up to my mom's and we plated it up for my grandma. Her freezer is stocked for a while, and I'm going to make some more dishes this weekend. My mom cried. She's so stressed out with this whole taking care of grandma thing, it's not even funny. We were supposed to take a vacation before school started, but now we aren't cause of a whole bunch of factors, and she's pretty bummed about that. I wish my aunt would have gotten her head out of her ass and come to help for even just a little bit this summer. It's so unfair that my mom is the only one with a real job and all three of her siblings could care less. It's time to think about putting her in a home and my mom has no idea how to go about it without the help of any of them, let alone having my aunt object and throw a giant wrench into everything.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Family sucks.

Other random thoughts:
I miss GA. I wish I could divide my time between here and there. I am really going to miss my mom (who would have ever thought I would be saying that about the person who called me fat and a slut - times sure have changed), but I can't wait to get back down there.

I went running for the first time in who knows how long (I have no excuse, I'm just lazy). It kicked my ass royally. 1/2 mile, straight up hill. I made it though without stopping (I did walk most of the time, but in my defense, that stroller is darn heavy). Plus the other mile I ran. My legs are jello today. But, somehow, I am already down to my 'after baby' goal weight. Weird. I eat like crap, and barely exercise and am dropping weight like no other. I'm not complaining yet.

I have too much furniture. I sold half of what we owned before I moved, yet I still have too much for this apartment. I want to live somewhere huge next, but with the same amount of stuff, so then it will be sooo open and free!

Buttercup

E's most often used nickname is Buttercup. Each morning I greet her with a super cheery "Good morning, Buttercup!" no matter how bleary eyed I really am. And she always gives me a giant toothless grin. So, I think she likes her nickname.

There goes the bride . . .

Off into the sunset with her new husband.

Surreal.

A few thoughts from the evening:
~While M was sitting in Kuwait, lounging about, he could have easily been put on a plane, come to the wedding, and hoping on another plane in plenty of time to get back for his trip back to base. Why can't I be in charge of leave? Soldiers would love me. You want to go home for a bit? Sure, here's your flight number, have a wonderful time. :-P

~Family sucks. You're stuck with them. Creepy and weird as they are, you can never get away. A certain someone will never, ever be coming to live with us. Even if we do have a garage apartment. Too close for comfort. Friendly is one thing. Creepy is a whole 'nother ballgame.

~Other family rocks. E was an angel for my mom. It sounded like she was even better than she usually is for me. No crying, drank her bottle right up and promptly went to sleep. I couldn't ask for a better baby. Or mom - she had a big "let's eat away our misery" dessert for me when I got home. And a margarita. We love our margaritas.

~I'm glad we didn't have the big wedding. Sure, the greedy and selfish side of me thinks the gifts would have been quite beneficial (how else does one become the owner of things like carving sets and complete sets of red and white wine glasses and champagne flutes), but the practical side of me knows I would have never wanted to stand up in front of that many people and that our dinner was far more delicious than any catered event.

Okay, now some pictures.

Slightly saddened by this realization . . .

I strongly suspect there is a bachelorette party going down quite soon. And since I only stumbled across this information on the internet, clearly, I was not invited to join in.

And that makes me sad.

Makes me wonder how different this whole shindig involvement thing would have turned out if M was home.

I hate having "friends".

You know - friends, but not really friends.

Cryptic. I know.

Dishwashing the diapers

Seriously. The baby's diapers are currently running through their third rinse cycle in the dishwasher. If M was here, I don't doubt he'd be having a fit about it being disgusting. I'm still on the fence as to how disgusting it really is.

The whole purpose of this odd experiment is to "strip" the diapers. When washing in the washing machine, soap sometimes builds up on them and causes this horrible, knock you over, hold your breath smell. I experienced this smell last night when I walked into the bedroom and could smell E's diaper immediately. Another reason to "strip" diapers is to combat repelling, where the soap build up causes liquid to just roll of the fleece, rather than be absorbed.

Just so you know, I washed them all first in the washing machine. :-)

So, hopefully this strange effort will end all stinkies and leaks. And I'll be a happy mama.

In other day to day, boring issues . . . I picked up our old hitch hauler box thingie from the in-laws house today. They've had it since I moved to Texas two years ago and here I though they had used it once and then it was stored in their attic space since then. I'm thinking that's clearly not the case though. Not only was it completely covered in mud (caked on mud, off-roading type of mud), but two of the tail-lights are cracked and one has all of the plastic missing, the entire lock is gone and is just a gaping hole now, the pin for the hitch part is long gone, and the connector for the tail-lights is nowhere to be found. Oh, and all of the metal is completely rusted and crumbly.

This is why you don't let other people have your things. Even if they are relatives. Yes, I'm selfish, but being selfish keeps me from having all of my stuff ruined. I knew it might have a few scratches and dents and be pretty dirty, but no way was I expecting this hunk of junk I was left with.

Pissed. Slightly.

Sleepy Head

Drama Queen

She even poses while she sleeps. Little Miss Sassy is going to be quite the pistol I think.

Hello August!

I like this month. In August we will . . .

~Hit the halfway mark. Granted, it will be at the very end of the month, but still. 7 1/2 months down. Pretty impressive.

~Watch two wonderful people get married. I'll watch in person, and M will get to watch the video I'll probably send him. Too bad I can't send any cake . . .

~Hopefully take a vacation. Take my mother away from everything that stresses her out, stick her in a beach chair with the waves lapping at her feet and a cold margarita in her hand.

~Witness the most impressive display of craziness yet as M's family moves three generations, 6 people, into one house. I'm ready to be entertained.

~Get a new camera and quickly become an expert at photography again. Close-ups are the first thing on the learning agenda.

~Take the Corvette out for a drive finally. Maybe, just maybe, I can take a spin while it's running right. And after that I can take the truck for a spin too.

~Run at least 2 miles straight. I can do 1, and it almost kills me, but I know I can do more. I still haven't signed up for the 5k, but I will. I can do it!


There's quite a few more events that I'm sure will pop up over time. The summer is flying by, and although I love how the sands of time are swirling out of control, I know the winter is going to drag. I have to get in all of my outside time now.

Pictures and Photoshop

E is already addicted to watching TV. She was all squeaky clean, bundled up, and enthralled with whatever was on.



More bath time at grandma's.



I finally installed Photoshop on this computer and my first attempt at anything was a profile of E for my mom. I figured it would be easier than trying to actually cut out her profile from a picture and do it that way. It's not the greatest - my mouse sticks and makes smoothing the lines pretty tricky - but it works.

Easily distracted

E and I were on 'vacation' for the last few days. She just had her first sleepover at my mom's house. She likes her grandma :-)

We had our garage sale. Sold lots of things, made lots of money, and we'll do it all over again next weekend. It's amazing the kinds of people that turn out to these things.

As a celebration after Friday's sale, we went out to a new Mexican restaurant in B-Town. Their margaritas are absolutely awesome. I asked our server just how much alcohol they put into them and his heavily accented answer was "Like 5 bottles with a gallon and then we mix it all up". Yes. He said 5 bottles of tequila to a gallon of mix. My mother and I were giggling little fools after just one glass. We will be returning.

E rolls over with noooo problem now. I set her down on the floor this morning to grab something out of her room before I put her in her carseat and when I came back out two seconds later, there she was hanging out on her tummy, all happy and looking around. She also has started to be ticklish. We got her really going with the belly laughing the night we were being rather goofy ourselves.

Rascal got to go out on the balcony tonight. He's a good little kitty and stayed away from the edge after I scared him once while he was peeking down. I left the door open while I was out there and Kitty never even wanted to come out. He just sat in the opening and looked out. Totally content.

There's a Susan G. Kommen 5k run/walk in September that I think I am going to try and do. My mom is going to do the 1 mile walk with a big group of the bus drivers and asked me to come too, so maybe I will have her walk with the baby and I can do the run. I think it would be fun to actually have a goal on something to work to.

I think I may need to go to the eye doctor. Lately, when I'm looking at something, everything in the background will shift and spin a little. It's like a 2 second dizzy spell. It's weird and getting annoying.

It's incredibly hot in the apartment tonight, so I think I'm about to go sit in front of the door with the fan on. I can't stand how all the heat rises up here and makes it boiling after the sun goes down.

Bad Mama!

I'm a horrible mother. E got her first sunburn today. We went a horse show at the fairgrounds for about 5 hours. And now she has some cherry cheeks. I also have a wicked burn on my arms and back. I still can't figure out how it happened though, cause we stayed in the shade all day. Sitting under a tree, in the car, and in the shade of a building. We spent maybe 10 minutes throughout the day in the sun, walking from one place to another. Can grass reflect the sun like water does? That's all I can think of that would do it.

Poor girl. She felt a little hot, so we did a preemptive strike with some Tylenol (and we all know how opposed I am to medicine, so clearly I was concerned about her). She wasn't fazed though. We'll see how she feels tomorrow.


Other observations for tonight - I am a spineless wimp (ask me why, Misha) and I just discovered a love for the show Little Bush on Comedy Central. So stupid it's funny.

White Trash and the Door That Ate My Foot

I'm still up. I meant to go to sleep an hour ago, but the diaper hunt was calling my name :-)

I just went down to the car to get some stuff out (gotta love hauling those giant buckets of kitty litter up the stairs). On my way out, I stopped to admire the newest inhabitants of my building. Right next to the main door lives some folks who seem to think they're still out in some other land. Hanging from the roof over the patio, you can find two hanging, wooden swing people (you know - the silhouette of the boy and the girl hanging onto the ropes), some dying baskets of plants, a faded teddy bear flag, and three candle lanterns (all rusted). On the patio is an assortment of worn out folding chairs and more dying plants. On the lawn and in the complex-provided landscaping you can find not one, but two wooden figures. One is the ever classy lady-bending-over-with-her-bloomers-showing and the other, well I'm not even sure what it is, but it's pink and purple. There is also a statue of a dog holding a newspaper in it's mouth and a Welcome Home iron sign and a tattered little American flag. I'm at a loss as to what whitty name to dub this menagerie with. It is amusing though; makes my jungle look much less out of place.

As I was coming back in the building, arms full, I set down the giant kitty litter tub to swing open the first door. I picked the tub back up and headed through the door. Apparently, I'm not quite quick enough though, because the door slammed into my foot, skimming over about half of it and then jamming deep into it. My foot was literally stuck under the edge of the door. That's a fabulous feeling, let me tell you. I unwedged my foot and proceeded to limp upstairs. It's currently a painful, black and blue bump with an inch long gash that doesn't seem to want to stop bleeding. And, to top it off, I feel as though I might just puke when I put any weight onto it.

Lovely evening. Or early morning. Whatever it may be.

Shleepy. shleepy

I am soooo tired. I'm not really sure why though. E slept in till 9 this morning, we took a mid-morning nap, and all I did today was some visiting. But it's only 10 and I am ready to pass out.

My first visit of the day was to one set of my grandparents. E was fascinated with my grandma, she was happy and smiling (but never took her eyes off me while she was holding her). It's kinda sad, my grandma had a stroke a while back and she seems to be having a progressively harder time with her words. But, at the same time she seems to be recovering nicely from her recent surgery.

Next, we headed out to my mom's. I fed the baby and then we all loaded up in the truck and went out to my other grandma's. Her whole day seems to brighten up when I bring the baby over. She may repeat the same three sentences five times, but she's happy.

Then we went down the hill to the degenerate cousin's house. His step-son was having a graduation party and we meant to just drop off a card from my grandma. But, there we a bunch of relatives there that wanted to see the baby, so we stayed a bit. I got to see my cousin and his wife who is about to have twins (scheduled for Tuesday). The poor girl looked so uncomfortable. I don't think she has any idea what she is in for. My uncle's girlfriend was holding E next to her when she (E) puked up everything she had eaten. My cousin's wife was beyond disgusted. The girlfriend wasn't even fazed, she just laughed and wiped up with a napkin. As we were leaving, the degenerate cousin was saying goodbye and grabbed E's hand and then her foot. As he was moving from hand to foot, he oh so subtly brushed across my stomach. Ugh ugh ack ick! He truly is the scum of the earth. My family is so messed up. Hopefully I will never have to see him again. I don't forsee any family events in the future.

3 Months

Happy three months to E! :-)

We had a milestone today. She let out her first belly laugh. She's been making "Heh!" noises for a little while now, but while her grandma was making ridiculous noises, she busted out with a real laugh. It was the cutest thing. I'm going to be attached to the video camera for the next while till I can get it on tape.

A Ton of Pictures

Since someone has told me I'm slacking on this thing, I will do my best at overloading the page with pictures. I could be sleeping, but I'm being the loving wife and sacrificing my rest so someone can have pictures to look at :-P

I got a hold of the in-law's camera and loaded all of their pictures to my computer. I found a bunch of cute ones, and ones that are worthy of sharing. So, here goes . . .

Random stuff from when M was home:

She was a squirmy little thing :-)

The pretty princess in her pink dress :-) That guy holding her doesn't look too bad himself ;-)

Gotta learn how to hold a baby in a dress!

Other random stuff:

Memorial Day - proof that he really has held the baby at least once.

She's in love with the fan. She's going to miss that fan.

July 14th - 90th Birthday Party for a P-family aunt:

Here we go!

Everyone loves a baby.
Right before she latched on to a fist full of her hair.

It was a long, hot day.


"Thank God we're home, Mommy!"

"Now tell these people to go home so I can eat and pass out!"

Yesterday:

In the cry room at church, after being consoled out of a tantrum with a yummy bottle.

Blankie #2

I made another one :-) I've decided I'm going to make them in two sizes, this one (16 x16) and a bigger one (24 x 24). If I have smaller pieces left over, I'll make teeny, tiny ones. Wahoo!

However, there will be NO sewing tonight. I am going to bed before 11 for once. (Just this once). Waking up has become way too hard.

Projects - The Fabric Addiction

I'm bad. Very bad. I get addicted to things way to easily. The current vice - fabric. I am working my free sewing machine to the ground! But, all that fabric gets expensive, so unless I can turn some sort of tiny little profit, or at least break even, I need to curb my addiction pretty quick.

A few days ago I finished a baby sling. E loves it. She gets to look all around, and she even fell asleep in it in the store yesterday. I have to tweak my measurements a bit, but it turned out great. I have some stretchy fabric I'm going to try next for another one.



Then came the blankie. I have a hard time calling it a lovie - I always called mine a blankie. This is what I'm hoping I can sell. Somewhere, somehow. Craft fairs, online, word of mouth, whatever. This first one was a pain, though. It probably would have helped to know my sewing machine a little better. Apparently it has some quirks, just to keep you on your toes. I spent just as much time making it as I did ripping bad seams and digging fluff out of the bobbin case. The darn thing eats fabric like no other. Anyways, I just finished it a little bit ago, and I can't wait to give it to E when she wakes up in the morning and see what she does with it. She's at the stage where she loves to grab and hang onto things, so this might be a good thing.

Swim, swim, swim

Today my mom came down and we went for a glorious swim. It was HOT. I've had the air-conditioning cranked all yesterday and today, and probably will tomorrow too. The pool here is so nice. Today I even went in the deep end - all five feet of it :-) Apparently, playing with Elise makes me not think about my fears of that scary water.

My mom has this crazy idea that we should start giving E swimming lessons, and she heard somewhere that it's fine to teach them to go under water and that they will learn to hold their breath on their own. I, however, think she's crazy and I'm not sticking the poor baby under water. Crazy grandma. She also tested out E's floaty toy today. It will hold a grown woman, but I kiboshed that fun right quick. E likes it, so busting it when we still have 2 months of pool time left would not be good.

She's so comfy, she's falling asleep in the turtle :-)

She loves to try and stand on me - the whole weightlessness thing must be fun.

She's a happy, happy baby!

I'm a loser, baby . . .

. . . so why don't ya kill me.

I cannot get that song out of my head. It's fitting though. The loser part, that is. Don't anyone get any ideas ;-)

4th of July came and went. Normally that is one of my favorite holidays, but it's just not the same. It's no fun 'oohing' and 'ahhing' all by yourself. E was cranky from her shots, so I decided to wing it. We went to my dad's and had dinner. I dressed her up in the outfit they got for her, even though for some reason the 'All American Girl' it says on it really irks me for some reason. I'm stumped as to why I have this aversion to that phrase. Anyways, she looked cute as could be, and tolerated grandpa holding her for a little bit before deciding she wanted nothing but Mommy.



Alright. Blogger here is not letting me put anymore pictures on right now, but I have two more I wanted to add. So I suppose I will play with it later. Phooey.

Anyways. Back to the 4th. By the end of dinner, E had had it. She was tired and cranky and absolutely ready for bed. So, I reluctantly skipped out on the fireworks plans I had with my mom, and we went home, where she promptly passed out. I then spent the rest of the night cleaning the apartment and running out onto the balcony (seriously, running down the hallway and to the door - I'm a dork) to catch the fireworks someone was setting off behind the complex. Whoever it was must have spent a ton on them, because it was an impressive display and the spurts of explosions lasted almost an hour.

If she's up to it, I might take E and go watch the fireworks in somewhere on Saturday. We'll see.

E's Well Baby

Why, yes, she is a very well baby :-)

This morning I took E in for her two month checkup and vaccinations. She has grown so much. I was really surprised at how long she has gotten - 25 inches! I know she looks long, and is growing out of all her clothes, but seeing it on paper is kinda shocking. She weighs nearly 13 pounds, and is on the top end of the percentiles. My mom went with us and was being her strange self, raving about how "Mommy's Milk" is working so well. She gets a little over-excited at these things.

The pediatrician we saw was horrible. She dismissed most of my questions, wouldn't discuss developmental time lines, and basically told me I shouldn't be using cloth diapers and should get a membership to "one of those clubs" so I could afford disposables. Not cool. Thankfully, we won't have to see her again any time soon.

After stopping at JoAnn Fabrics (still working on my project - slowly) and the park, we came home and took a nice long nap. Then this evening, we walked (okay, so I walked, E was chauffeured around) up to the ice cream place, which just opened finally. I am now in love with their Pink Champagne Sherbet. It was awesome.

E was rockin' the pink camo bandaides all day from her shots :-)

The First Project

I'm beginning my first project tonight on my new old sewing machine. It's a bit ambitious, to say the least. The next few evenings will consists of ripping apart an ACU shirt so I can piece it back together in the form of my 'project'. I've been advised by my local sewing expert - mom, of course - that I better not expect this to be easy. No kidding. This fabric is a pain in the first place, let alone lining it up right and not having the machine eat it. I'm embarking on a learning experience. Wish me luck!

E must be going through a growth spurt, because her number one interest is sleeping lately. Followed closely by eating, of course. Today while my mom visited, she spent most of the four hours sound asleep. Her time was divided between my chest and the couch. Such a carefree life :-)