The turtle

I have a blow-up turtle in my living room. He floats, and has a sun canopy and a little seat. And the baby loves him.

We went down to the pool early this afternoon, before the storm rolled through. I came to the realization of how my summers have changed. Now I look outside and think "Oh, it's cloudy - perfect time to go to the pool!" A far cry from my usual baking in the sun for hours.

Anyways, we went to the pool and E got to float around on the turtle. She had a ball. Legs kicking, babbling and squawking (yes, she squawks). The heater is fixed, and it was the perfect temperature. Wonderful experience today.

After we came back up, she was patient enough for me to get a picture of her in today's bathing suit.



Then she got cranky and started sucking her thumb.



So, I cheered her up with a bath :-)

Still here

I'm still here. I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth yet. Don't worry.

First, I got sick. The flu with a baby is no fun. But she's a good baby, and we survived.

Then, I kept meaning to post, but wanted to put in this video. Which has taken me four long nights of fighting with the computer to do just what I wanted it to do. But, I won.

So, here it is. E and her first time really swimming in the pool. It was the perfect temperature and she actually seemed to enjoy it, unlike the other times where she only lasted 2 minutes with her feet in before she got mad cause it was too cold . . . please excuse the excessive boobage. I hadn't realized just how much E pulled my top when she grabbed it, and my mother was kind enough to get it on tape without warning me. (It's really not that bad, though. I don't think :-)

Happy Father's Day :-)

Happy Father's Day to M, and my own dad, of course. The baby and I went to visit him, and we went out to a car show. It was unbelievably hot, but still pretty fun. Lots of old cars, not so much of the muscle cars. We gave the jogging stroller a workout, it does pretty good on grass and bumpy gravel.

Happy Two Months to E! She's gotten so big! *sniff* My little girl is growing up already.



This morning before heading out to church, we took a few minutes out on the balcony to smell the flowers and listen to the birds. I'm super excited that my Calamondin tree decided not to die and actually has a ton of flowers on it. Maybe it will even bear some fruit. Not that I'll be eating those atomically sour things, but hey, it would be cool to have a citrus bear fruit all the way up here.


E is getting the hang of sitting in her Bumbo seat, just not for too long, or her neck gets tired. (It must be rough having such a big, old head). She's just about grown out of my favorite favorite sleeper that I put her in. I call it her bunny suit. I've gotten real good at making up random names for things. But yeah, it's about time to retire the bright pink sleeper, before she busts holes in the feet.

Daddy, I want a pony!

It's in her blood. She's got the bug, the fever. She's a horse lover already. She actually reached out and pet KC. She smiled, she babbled and gurgled (if she could giggle yet, I'm sure she would have). Leadline class - here we come!

*disclaimer to her daddy* He doesn't bite, and he likes the baby. Honest! She was never in danger :-)

We have a thumb sucker!

She finally found it. And it must have been really tasty, cause she sure was happy about it. At least now I know we have a back up if I misplace the pacifier.


Today, we went downtown to pick up a birth certificate. Found the court house, waited in line, paid the ridiculous fee, and got a nice and new copy. It was a beautiful day, so we wandered around outside for a while. It was basketball fever all around, with a big old festival looking thing set up, music blaring and a certain famous player's namesake stuff everywhere. We sat and people watched for a while by the fountains.


A few minutes after sitting down, the sprinklers came on and the wind picked up every drop of water and misted it all in our direction. So, we moved on and headed back towards the car, stopping at the park overlooking the stadium and lake. M called and E patiently studied the tree nearby while we chatted. I completely forgot to mention to him the giant windmill (wind harnessing machine or whatever its called) that had been put up on the lake. I found it amusing that the city would invest in one, but only one. All that wind and they would only put in one. Makes no sense.


On a completely unrelated note, I want my hair back! It's still too short to put up in a ponytail and is constantly in my face. Really really annoying.

A Three Minute Drive to the Past

It takes exactly three minutes to drive from my mom's house to M's parent's house when driving like a reckless high schooler.

I am, and always have been perpetually late. Tonight, as I was speeding up 306 between the houses, I had such a feeling of deja vu. How many times did I peel out of the driveway like a bat out of hell, and fly over to M's house, pulling in at least 10 minutes late. Only now, there's a baby in the backseat, and M isn't standing in the driveway waiting for me to get there.

Such warm and fuzzy memories are all over B-Town (like certain parking lots, eh? ;-). It just seems so unnatural to be sitting at his parent's kitchen table and the fourth chair is empty.

Watermelon and chlorine

The two smells of the day.

I ate an entire chunk of watermelon today. Probably a good 1/4 of a whole one. And it was delicious. Sweet and juicy and now my kitchen smells like watermelon. Which makes me wish I had another big, old chunk. I foresee a walk to the store on the agenda for tomorrow.

This afternoon, after a glorious, long nap, I woke up to an incredibly toasty apartment. The thermometer on the balcony window said it was 95. That's hot for here, considering yesterday was in the 70s. So, I woke up E (someone did not want to get up, she would have slept the whole day away I think) and we went down to check out the pool for the first time. I found her an adorable swimsuit at Old Navy and she looked so darn cute. Stark contrast from me, though. Simply put, I desperately need to find myself some new bathing suits, now that certain assets have changed size. I did squeeze into one, just for today, and it was almost obscene. Thankfully there was only some strange, older woman down at the pool, and no young children to be scarred by the view. We stayed down there for only a little bit, cause I was worried the water might be too cold for E. But she seemed to enjoy herself, splashing her little legs around. I was pretty entertained by the realization that she floats. Holding her under her arms, her behind and legs will just float on up. So cute. It was just the right pick-me-up for this afternoon. I can't wait for someone to come hang out with me there so we can get her on tape.

Cloth rocks!

I am officially addicted. Cloth diapers are the bomb. Turns out, they're no more disgusting than disposables, look absolutely adorable, and will end up costing a heck of a lot less - providing I squash this addiction and stick with just what we need. Heh, sure, that'll be an easy task.

Here, E is wearing the brightest lime green diaper I've ever seen, and a smile to match!


Yes, she's now smiling all the time. I had her sitting next to me and was reading aloud. I looked over, and there she was, grinning her giant, gummy smile. It's enough to make ya melt. And on the topic of reading material - she seems to prefer my Russian fairy tales to anything I've read in English. A girl after my own heart. However, the Russian folk songs I've been singing haven't had much effect. Maybe it's my singing though . . .

Silence is not Golden

I sit with the TV on all night, just to hear the noise. I lay awake at night, listening to the baby breathe. I get lost in my thoughts when there is nothing to listen to. And lately, my thoughts are not where I want to be lost. They make me cry.

So I play music I don't like, just to drown the silence.

Garage sales

This morning my mom and I hit the local neighborhood garage sale. It was hot and humid, the traffic was brutal, and pickings were slim. However, we did score a Pack'n'Play for $15 that's nearly new, and a pop-up beach shade tent thingy for $8. Now I have a PNP to have at any of the grandparent's houses, and a shady spot for the beach next year.

Here's to more garage sale-ing and scores throughout the rest of the summer.

They must laugh deep down inside

Tonight, the baby got her bath and then ate and was drifting peacefully off to sleep in my arms. So, I sat her up to get that last burp before she was totally out. And, I ended up wearing most of what she had eaten. Lovely. Off to be changed, both of us, and then back into the chair with a super-happy and wide awake E. Cautiously, I let her eat again, hoping we wouldn't have a repeat performance. Content, she drifted off again and was soon that wonderful dead weight that sleeping babies are. Off to bed she went. No sooner had I tiptoed out of the bedroom, a car alarm went off. Right below the window. Un-happy and wide awake E. After shutting all the windows and reluctantly turning the AC on, we headed back to the chair. And rocked, and rocked, and rocked. Finally, she was that lovely dead weight in my arms again. I slid slowly out of the chair and began the shuffle towards the bassinet. It's a very calculated shuffle, only the feet can move, and perhaps a little sway of the hips, but nothing of the upper body can so much as twitch. The bedroom was dark and I silently congratulated myself for navigating around the chair and between the bed without stubbing my toes. And then it happened. Out from under the bed, shot the furball known as Rascal. He had all the room in the world, but clearly, between my feet was the most logical path to take. In a desperate attempt to catch my balance without flailing my arms wildly, and thusly dropping the baby, I twisted around to land myself sitting on the bed and managed to knock a whole stack of things off the chest. Which promptly woke the baby. And she cried. The bottom-lip-quivering-make-you-want-to-cry-too-cause-it's-so-pitiful cry. She was, of course, wide awake.

So, again I shuffled down the hallway and back to the chair, where our new little routine started all over again. And the cats slept soundly at my feet, most likely plotting their next ambush.

Do you wake the sleeping baby?

It's all my fault. I should have known better than to wrap E up in my handy-dandy Ultimate Baby Wrap, which I have finally figured out how to use, and take the trash out. And then take a walk around the complex. And look at the pool. And then go out on the balcony and play with my plants. And sit in my chair and watch the sun set.

Cause now it's 10pm and I have a soundly sleeping baby on me. A baby that still needs her bath and to eat before going to bed for the night. And I know that once I wake her up for that, we're going to be staying up for a while. And I'm kinda ready for sleep now, not later.

I am seeing a pattern with her though. Bedtime is going to be moved way up from 9 to more like 7. 7 is when she usually passes out on her own, and then I end up waking her to give her a bath, and then she is up for a while. Bath time is officially now at 6. It's a good thing I don't have a life anymore.

Blossom Time

Due to a very cranky baby that was fighting sleeping with all her might, and the lingering after affects of the dental work on Friday, I got so little sleep last night that I'm only going to count the three hours I got this morning from 6 to 9. Some time in the middle of the night I turned off my alarm, reasoning that if I ever did manage to sleep, it was definitely going to take precedence over going to church. And, it did.

When I finally drug myself out of bed, along with the bright-eyed and chipper E, I stuck her in the bouncy seat and took my shower, hoping it would wake me up just a bit more. Then I came out and played with her on the floor. During the all important tummy time, she passed out. And I think I may have too :-) But, Lucy kept an eye on her for me.



After I woke up from that little nap, complete with carpet marks on my face, we headed up to my mom's. From there we went down to CF to watch the parade. E slept through half of it, even with the bagpipes, and my mom yelled at some kids that ran right into her (literally ran, not just bumped). We also spent a considerable amount of time commenting on how not one of the parents there was controlling their child, allowing them to stand in the middle of the street and almost get run over multiple times, despite tons of other people telling them to stand back. But, it was fun.



After a while of being awake, E decided she had had enough fun for the day and passed out again :-) So, mom and I headed off in search of Gyros. Which we found. And they were messy and delicious. I've had my fix to last me until fair.

Pain in the . . .

Went to the dentist this morning to get my wicked toothaches checked out. I expected to just pop in, get a few x-rays and schedule my next visit to do the dirty work. So, E went with me. Turned out, I needed two root canals, and the dentist just happened to be buddies with the oral surgeon next door. So, he makes a phone call and presto! I'm in the chair waiting for this guy who is not only going to fit me in and get it done today, but he's also doing it free of charge, following the generous precedent the dentist set (awesome, awesome people - they want to support the spouses of deployed military and are providing services for free). So, there I am, making frantic phone calls, trying to find someone who is at home. I finally got a hold of my dad and he was nice enough to leave work early to come watch E while I got worked on. Poor guy. I had no idea that a) E would cry the entire time (I walked out and held her for a minute during a break and she immediately stopped - someone loves their mommy!) and that b) I would be there for THREE HOURS. Apparently, Novicane (yes, I have no idea how to spell that) does not do a thing for me. It took two hours and four different anesthetics to get me numb. That was a blast. I owe my dad big time.

So, here I sit, with my stiff jaw and throbbing gums (five hundred needle pokes will do a number on ya).

My mom came down to hang out with me and help with the baby in case I was a little too out of it. At one point E was looking exceptionally adorable and she wanted to take a picture. She turned on my camera and a big old error message popped up. "Card is not initialized". Turns out this damn new computer decided to be a pain in my ass once again and screw up the card the last time I transfered pictures. Fabulous. Now I have to hope that someone can get the picture back off of it and that the whole card isn't ruined. That will not make me happy.

I keep saying it - I love the thought of this computer, but it is doing nothing but causing me headaches right now. I do not like things that try to think for me.

Cuddles

After a nearly sleepless night due to a wicked toothache, I spent this morning in the most glorious way possible. Sound asleep, with my own little snuggle-bunny curled up on my chest. There is only one thing that could be more cozy that a happy and content baby lightly snoring in your ear - and that would be to have a bed-hogging husband snoring in the other.

I'll be the first to admit that I am going to be paying down the road, as I instill bad habit upon bad habit within our little girl. Sleeping on me, being rocked to sleep, only getting out half a cry before being scooped up and consoled. She has no idea, but I am already wrapped around her chubby little finger. Let's just hope those chubby little fingers stay far away from her mouth, then that will be at least one habit I don't have to break someday.

Today was a highly unproductive day. Still in pain, I have to wait til tomorrow to see a dentist, and even then I don't think anything will be done til next week. Not a happy camper am I. In fact, I'd almost go so far as to say this is the worst pain in my life so far. Seriously.

Back to our day though. Unproductive. Aside from time spent being fed and having diaper after diaper changed, the baby played on the playmat for a while . . .


And slept . . .


While I played around in my beautiful garden (I'm convinced my neighbors think I'm crazy - I'll have to take a picture from the outside).

And that was the day. Now, I'm fighting with the new computer, and am really annoyed that it doesn't want to let me sort my photos the way I want. I hate when computers think for you.

The Begining of the End

It's the end of the world as we know it . . . The countdown is on. Too bad we don't actually have a date to count down to. So, we'll count up. The closer to 365 we get, the closer to the end we are.

It's day 3. Whoo-hoo.

R&R was over one day, the next the baby hit one month. It really does seem as if time is flying by. I don't want her to grow up too quick, but the faster time passes, the faster Misha will be home. It's apparently all give and take with this time thing.

Each day the baby teaches me something new. It may be about myself, about her, about bodily functions, anything. She amazes me every minute. Sometimes she even causes me to amaze myself. Today I was discussing the fears I had had before she was born - not loving her, not knowing what to do with her, even not wanting her - and now, I can hardly fathom how I could have felt any of those things. Fears are still there - being a bad mother, not talking to her enough, being boring, not providing enough stimulation for her on my own - but the love I feel for her just grows and grows. It's quite sappy, I know.

Today I learned:
1) If you're patient, she will sleep. And then you can too.

2) Jeans will dry in three minutes with the hairdryer on them, after the 'explosion' has been washed out of them.

3) 8 am is now officially morning. Not 11 or 12. Those days are long gone. (And I think they left with Misha).

4) Glasses or contacts really should be worn when changing a diaper. Just to prevent wondering why one's hand is now all wet.

5)The customer service person at Target will only take as long as possible to do a simple return when the baby is very, very unhappy.

Had it not rained, we woud have gone on a nice walk in the park. But, it rained. So, we hung out at Grandma's (she officially declared herself not Grandma today, but hasn't come up with a better name yet, so Grandma still stands). Yesterday however, I strapped on the Baby Bjorn and we walked up the road to the grocery store (I got some cherries, and they are quite delicious). E was not the happy camper, as I stuck an adorable hat on her head to keep the sun out of her eyes. She's sticking to her guns on the whole hat hating thing. But she was pretty damn cute.

The walk was a wonderful thing, cause by the time we got back, she was passed out. And so I got a nap too. Naps are great.