Guess who's walking now? Morella! Today she shocked the pants off both Tim and I by walking. She has started showing more interest in walking last week, and had moved onto knee walking as much as she could. She would take a few steps. Then she would stand unassisted, and finally this week she started being a little more adventurous and taking 5-7 steps. But nothing was ever consistent, and it wasn't all day.

Today it was all day. I think the real key is that she learned how to stand up from a crouch without having to pull up on anything. So when she wobbles and falls down, she is able to get right back up without a big production. I think the best part about it, is how proud she is when she is walking, the gleam in her eyes and how her face just shines with pride is so heart warming.

My little baby is walking! Oh the dresses I have for her to wear. :D They have just been waiting for the day, a day that I thought would take longer to get here than it did. I honestly didn't think she would start walking until February. She surprised me by walking three weeks before I thought she would.

Today we took a day trip to visit Tim's parents, so that Morella could visit her grandmother as kind of a birthday visit. We forgot the card that she picked out special...aww. She had fun though. She played piano, found some new baby dolls to play with, climbed stairs, heard new stories, etc. I had fun because I planted myself in front of the fire place and just ... rested. Today is another "off day". I woke up sick and couldn't shake it, and just felt overall sucky. I took a shower to try and get rid of it, and Morella ended up taking it with me. I had to hold her for most of it, and I think she liked it. She was calm and seemed happy and soothed. Interesting. It was little bit of a special moment. :) I think I'll remember her blue eyes and water splashed face for as long as I shall live looking at me with complete trust.

I am glad to be home though. I watched an episode of True Blood and now caught up on the net. I think I'm going to take my contacts out now and get some sleep. My tummy sort of hurts from wearing pants I can't wear for long trips anymore and sitting up so much. Man, I can't believe how out of shape I am this time around. In my defense I didn't have a chance to really work on getting into shape again after Morella. I was really going to kick it up a notch after she was weaned.

Anyway.

Friday Photos: Last week of January

Tim rides bike to work almost ever morning despite fridgid temperatures. The real bonus to this, aside from saving boat loads of money, and leaving me the the car, is that his company started to include "particulate matter" in declaring "action air days." It used to be based more on heat and sweltering factors...but now....now we have chances for him to earn free lunches for me! So far he has earned two this month.

Cullen came over for a little play date. Morella thought about being embarassed at the state of the house, but then figured that they could actually do worse. Guess what? They did! However it was the perfect prod I needed to be able to clean the crap off the floor and vacuum later on. It's amazing what a vacuum job does to the living room. Makes it look clean and livable.


Baby Boy -- yet unnamed. This is now the fourth baby I have known/met that hasn't had a name when I met it. It just baffles me how folks have nearly 9 months to make a decision on the kids name ... and then don't do it. If anything, it makes the name they DO get in the end half hapzard and sloppy with barely any time given to it at all.

The new family. Congratulations to Stephanie and Bill!

I was inspired to finally take that first picture by Sarah. Thanks Sarah! I needed a kick in the butt otherwise Crouton is going to think I didn't care. For the record, I am only going to do this monthly this time around. That said -- here we are:

13 Weeks 5 Days


I would like to point out that I usually am wearing baggy stuff, and covered in fleece or hoodies, so it's not like you could *really* see anything yet anyway. ;) I did take a bare belly shot or two, but no one needs to see those Morella is doing great today...well better than the rest of this week has gone. I was able to entertain her this morning by having her help me peel beets. She didn't eat much lunch and had really heavy eyelids by the end of it. I put her down for her nap and she didn't make a fuss. She was tired!

This afternoon we are going to the Sun Prairie library -- an adventure for us -- to hang with Noah and Ann. I think Morella has a little cabin fever so she will probably enjoy this trip. I am also not feeling as terrible today -- so hopefully it won't be a huge chore. It's amazing what a difference having a day without a headache makes.

That said, I should hustle to bed and see if I need a nap. It's my single parenting day, so I really have to take corners where I can.

I had to fix it. For one, it was a test -- I can send pictures to my blog via my phone! Hurray...but I also need to remember to get the orientation right. Or at least figure out how. Hm.

Anyway. She is pouting in this picture because I took the phone away from her for a second. This is her "My phone! It was my lifeline...my only hope...my only joy.....my..." Yeah you get the picture. I let her play with it again with supervision (aka making sure she didn't log online or something where I would actually have to pay a bundle for that mistake). Anything to buy me a few minutes of sitting down and not carrying her around the house. A little break if you will.

Tim bought me a cherry pie tonight and baked it. He also got some pretty awesome ice cream "Everything but the ..." for splurging and lactose free ice cream (for the pie). He was vigilant about Morella's temperature and cold not going away which led to the diagnosis of a double ear infection and hopefully the prevention of another case of mastoiditis and her feeling better soon. He has gotten up every morning to get her out of her crib, change her diaper, give her milk and feed her breakfast. When he has come home from work, he enthusiastically gets down on the ground and plays with Morella -- lighting her face up like a million bulbs while I slump the couch with fatigue. Sadly, I think we have both reached a point now where we anxiously wait for Tim to return home. For her it's because he's excited to play games with her and is full of energy and is physical. For me, it's because I need a break to rest and get dinner started or finished. Mostly I need a break.

Tim has been wonderful these past few weeks. He's like a completely different darling from a couple months ago and I am reminded of how when I am really beaten down he always steps up to plate. Ha ... he even started doing laundry. It's that bad around here folks.

Anyway. Thank goodness for my Darling. I don't know what I would do without him right now. There haven't been that many times in my life where I felt this ... wiped out and helpless but thankfully he was there.

Oh yeah ... and LAST DAY OF THE FIRST TRIMESTER! SEE YA!

This week has kind of sucked so far. I'm a little overwhelmed and got a touch of Morella's cold. I guess I just didn't notice right away because I get bad rhinitis with pregnancy and winter. Anyway. So Morella has been exceptionally needy, clingy and whiney the last few days. Dr. Tim insisted I take her temperature more and in fact did it himself. I'll admit I sort of lost interest in doing it after I failed the first time. We switched to rectal temping and there is just something about that ....I know I need to get over it.

Anyway. She wasn't getting better and yesterday afternoon was me holding and carrying her for close to three hours. It really put a strain on me and caused me to have ... not stomach cramps but ... I don't know. Like uterus ache. Like every thing below my belly button just ... ached. When Tim got home from work and took her temp it was 102.1. Not super high but still a fever after three days.

This morning I took her into urgent care because the next best appointment would have been smack dab in her nap. At a time like now, naptime is NOT something I screw around with, so I opted for earlier. Turns out that she has a double ear infection and is now a 10 day round of antibiotics. I hope she starts feeling better soon. It's really dampening ... well any time I have during the day. There is only so much one can do while holding a baby who doesn't want you to sit.

Her nap today kind of sucked. Only two hours. I needed three hours. My headache is lurking again. My nose is cracked, stuffy, dry and bleeding -- yes all at once. Gah. I just want to stay in bed and read. Or watch TV or .... I don't know SOMETHING. I wish Morella would entertain herself for 10 minutes.

Okay. I guess she did while I typed this...except se s is on my lap and has been helping to type this entry while playing a with a phone, a wet wash cloth and anything else she will reach. Oh here starts the whine.

Aww nutz. It happened. I don't know of it was the little bit of clam chowder I had, the sweet potato biscuit, three chocolate/butter scotch chip cookies, or the tuna casserole ... but really I suspect it was the cherry limeade soda -- but I finally barfed. There have been a few close calls but I was always victorious in the end. Except, this time my defenses must have been down since it's been a couple days since I've gagged on anything.

Morella is slightly better today. She still has a mild fever. Tim thinks I should call to the doctor if she still has it tomorrow morning. I suppose that is a good idea because that would make her having the fever for 48 hours. She has taken two long naps today and woke up congested from the most recent one. That's good I think, because whenever I get a cold and it turns to the really thick snotty stage that means the end is in sight. Of course she also stayed up until 10 last night...she just won't go to sleep right away! She stays in there talking, crying, talking, banging her crib. At least she wasn't up last night after we put her down though.

So I guess the great return to book baby is cancelled for tomorrow.

The down comforter was awesome last night! It was like sleeping under a super soft warm dream. Ahh. I am also onto the last Twilight series book and a part of me just wants to jump to the end to see if she becomes a vampire or not. But I will resist. I must!

My residual cyst is really hurty today. I wonder when it's going to start shrinking. At the last ultrasound it was measuring on par with Crouton. The same thing happened with Morella and I think it started to get smaller/feel better after week 15. At least that was when I noticed it.

I can't believe I threw up.

Aww, my friend Hilary made a nice little post about me on her blog today. Check it out. And check out Hilary while you are at. She's writes good.

Today has been pretty good. Morella was up five times in the course of last night, but Tim got her every time. She awoke with a face encrusted in snot and has been pretty crabby and sick all day. Poor kid. Despite that, I've had a pretty good day. We tried to trick her into sleeping in her room by making her floor into a giant slumber party bed and laid around for a good hour and half in there waiting...she never did fall asleep. I eventually put her down two hours after her orginal naptime and after howling for 10 minutes she crashed out for 2.5 hours. Nice.

Meanwhile I took a nap. I also went out for breakfast with my friend Amy at Avenue Bar and Grill. It was okay food and a small menu...it was really nice to at least still go out and get away a little bit. We thought if Morella wasn't that bad that we would all go out, but that didn't happen.

Tim got me my Learn to Juggle kit, a DOWN COMFORTER! and duvet, and a root beer float. Ahh. He also fried some onions this evening which was pretty good. I don't have a headache today which is so awesome that I can't even begin to describe that feeling. I had some time to just ... relax and man... it was nice. I guess I needed that. I can't wait to try out the new blanket tonight.

Watch, I'll bet Morella's gift to me is her cold. See, that's what I get for getting out there and being social. Sigh. I guess. She can't live in a bubble her whole life. That said, we did watch some TV today with her because she just kind of wanted to sit around. I had a special moment where I realized my daughter and I were snuggled up on the couch together watching a chick flick (You've Got Mail) under my new down comforter.

A little slice of heaven.

Laima -- are you using the rss or the atom feed? I have no problems with the atom on my gmail reader -- everything always comes up within seconds of publishing. And also thanks for the heads up on the header line from the phone post. I don't think it's that big of a deal...but I'll only save it for super special occasions.

You know for being a hermit, I've been pretty darn social this past week. Maybe my hermitage is over? There was the wedding, then the new member social for the Mom's East side club, then scrabble at Laima's Wednesday night, followed by a play group outing to the Children's Musuem with two other moms/tots on Thursday. Today I went to Trader Joes to splurge on fun snacks. I got some freeze dried blueberries for Morella that taste awesome as well as some other great snacks and fully cooked sushi for tonight's Battlestar. Woo! The best part was that I bought a bouquet of flowers for myself for only 10$ -- I mean, really exquisite -- and ended up getting them for free because of the sample lady! What a really nice gesture! I was pretty happy about it. It's such a nice set of flower too...yellow/red roses, irises...some other stuff...

The sucky thing about today is that I woke up with a headache. I don't think it's going to go away anytime soon either. :( Bummer. Oh wait, I have a face mask in the freezer that is ready for use. I should use that on my head while I take my afternoon nap...which by the way is already in progress. So without further ado, let me post some pictures and then get my booty to bed.

Congratulations to the newlyweds - Chad and Laura! What a beautiful pair.

Look at those cheeks! She looks like a mini AlfredHitchcock here. Morella and Pink Kitty take this wedding business very seriously for about .... uh 10 minutes.

Taking a break to admire herself in the window. Her dress came off so that she could crawl around better. Consider that a fair number of the attendees were or are former goths, the outfit was entirely appropriate.

Tim, Chuck, Lowen, Sigrid and Matt all came over last Wednesay to eat some snacks, drink some booze and chat. It was a nice evening. Oh yeah, and Pluto got lots of pets. You can see here that he was going to follow willing hands as far as he could.

Testing....texting from my phone. Putting Morella to bed.

I was getting water ready for washing some dishes this morning and saw that Morella was standing next to the elevated dog dishes. Meaning, Pluto's water and food are at the perfect height for her to play with. I told her not to play with his food...of course she was playing with the water...but I needed to do start the dishes.

A few minutes later I walk over to assess the damage. Not to bad really. She just dumped a bunch of his dry dog food into the water bowl, and everything was still relatively dry. Regardless, I said "What is going on here?"

She looks at me with panic, and then to the dog dishes and then back at me before falling to the ground in tears. Then she started to really bawl and crawl in little uncertain circles. I had a really hard time biting back my laughther. She's so darn cute when she knows she's been naughty! I imagine one day it won't be cute...but for now it is. I picked her up and took her into the kitchen to play with dish suds and take her mind of it.

Of course 20 minutes later she rifled through my purse and found a sucker, which made it to the bathroom before it was discarded amidst a bunch of unrolled toliet paper. After that she went into the hallway and got "stuck" lying on her back. I laid down next to her and cuddled for a few minutes before she got "unstuck" and went back to see what else was left in my purse.

This is just one of the things that desperately needs to be done around here. I didn't even show you the table or the counter. Morella dumped a bunch of macaroni everywhere ... soon it will be ground into the floor. Sometimes I wish Pluto was a normal dog and would eat it.

I also desperately need to take a shower. I could deep fry fish with this hair! I need to pay bills...in fact I think I might have to have Tim take the electric bill to work because I am so close to the deadline. The wedding, the holiday yesterday and well crouton has thrown me off. :( And then I need to do some serious thinking about an olive branch I received in the mail today. To say I was stunned is an understatement. To forgive is divine, I know. But sometimes you get so stuck into a rut that it's hard to find the way out.

So am I going to do any of this right now? No. Morella just started her nap and I need to be energetic for her, so she trumps everything and therefore I am going to go take a nap as well. I just hope her nap is longer than mine.

I am still up, and done looking at other people's entries. I might as well forge ahead and finish up. I hate doing two parters where the second part shows up first...but oh well.

The reception of the wedding was great. Chad and Laura provided an open bar that everyone seemed to enjoy. I enjoyed plenty of water and a boring soda...oh and a cranberry juice. Our dinner companions included two teenagers (age 16 and 18) who were cousins of the groom and whose father plied them with beer all night long. A young goth couple from Houston TX who had left their 6 month old son for the first time to attend the wedding, enjoy wine, dance and have fun. Last an old college friend of Tim's who had just returned from a four month stint in Vietnam. The conversation was never boring and it was great that a wedding like this you could expect interesting conversation no matter what table you sat at! The food was buffet style, simple and tasty, and the cake was actually good! Moist. I like moist wedding cake. It's so hard to get. I was disappointed when I couldn't have a second piece. The serving lady seemed a little snippy to me when I went up for a piece. I didn't want to push my luck.

Morella was the belle of the ball. She charmed absolutely everyone by crawling around, pulling up on chairs, smiling, chatting, waving, etc. She really went into overdrive when the music started and she made a beeline for the dance floor. There is no doubt about it, but that girl loves to dance. It's amazing how often people are amazed at her sense of rhythm and ability to go along with the beat in just a few notes. I usually just answer these comments with one word "colic." When pressed for details, I explain how for about three months Morella was treated to 3-4 hours of dancing a day, and how it was a record snow fall and we were house bound. Talking long walks was out, so dancing was in. It's nice to know that all our hard work paid off in some regard.

Finally at 9:00PM, Morella signaled that she was done and wanted to go to bed. So back the hotel we went. I put her down, and changed back into jammies and cuddled up with the third installment of the Twilight series while Tim headed back down to the hospitality room to hang out with wedding guests returning from the party. I ended up going to sleep around 11:30 and he came back at the reasonable hour of 1:30.

Chad and his new bride were set to come to the hotel the following morning and be around for brunch so that they could have 10 more minutes with all of their guests who came from out of town. It was a considerable amount of folks who travelled from Britain, to Milwaukee, to Kansas, to Texas, to Scotland. Tim, Morella I again sat with Tristan who was there earlier, and we all enjoyed a long luxurious breakfast. After Morella was done eating, we put her on the floor and she slowly expanded her circle to include most of the eating area. Everyone watched out for her and one couple even begged us to not shoo her away when she pulled up on their knees and yammered on about something while they were eating their breakfast.

Then we packed up, checked out, stopped at the grocery store to get some supplies before leaving. Salad bar folks. That is the best way to bring food for a baby...a salad bar. I was able to get a bunch of kidney beans, Mandarin oranges, and other Morella friendly foods for the long ride back. She fell asleep as soon as we hit the road and didn't wake up until St. Louis. Sadly, that is when the bad weather started and Morella's good cheer ended so we were forced to stop at TA and endure some of the worst food ever. It was a bleak little place full of truckers watching a football game and choking this nasty stuff down. Morella had fun though. Sitting at the table eating beans and blackberry pie. I then made sure to walk her around a little before leaving. We made it another hour before Tim saw a Long John Silver's. he had been hankering for their food for months. MONTHS!

Here was his chance to finally get some. I was in the back with Morella trying to keep her entertained and failing miserably so agreed that we should stop and have a little fish mana. Once we entered the dismal little fish shop, I was overcome by the smell of oil that I started gagging immediately. My eyes started to run and I had overcome barfing in from the greasy bored young adult while Tim ordered his food. I ordered a soda and a single piece of fish. We sat down by the toilets because the air fresheners from the bathroom dealt with the oil smell somewhat and dug into our "feast." Did I say the TA's Pilgrim's Pride had the worst food ever? Forgive me, I was wrong. Long John Silver's did. I picked apart my piece of fish and fed white fillet bits to Morella who didn't seem to mind the oil. She was just happy to be out of her car seat and standing.

After changing two diapers and giving up on our food, we drove a short distance to a Shopko I had spotted. I told Tim that the only way Morella was going to not cry herself to sleep was to get some exercise and retail stores like this have carpeted areas in their clothing sections. Perfect for her to crawl around in. She did that, and then we ended up walking with her (each holding a hand) the entire store. Finally after 40 minutes she was winding down and we were able to leave. The weather was still crappy but at least we didn't have to hear an unhappy baby.

We finally made it home at 12:30. Twelve hours after we started. I was so happy to go to bed. My own sweet bed with my covers and ... ahhh.

So that was it. Our first big road trip. Hurray! Never again will I do such a long distance trip with only a day's rest between. It's too much, especially with a little baby.

-----------------------

This morning Lowen came over and watched Morella while Tim and I headed over to St. Mary's for Crouton's Nuchal Translucency Fold scan. We met with the genetics counselor first who explained how the screening process works, and who can write upside down amazingly well. Afterward we went in for a jelly on the belly exam. The detail was much clearer than GHC's, and we were able to see Crouton spaz around for a good 10 minutes while they took measurements. I'm happy to report that everything looks normal. In addition, I am extremely relieved to see that Crouton is doing okay because .... get this folks .... I might actually be starting to feel better. There are now stretches in the day where I don't feel absolutely miserable and I do believe I am starting to get my appetite back. By night time I am usually worn out and ready for bed, and that nap in the midday is still a necessary requirement ... but hot dog it if doesn't feel good to actually be hungry!

Matt dropped off Pluto in the afternoon and then we headed to the mall so that Tim could pick up his new glasses. While we were there I bought a calender of baby animals for her room, a butterfly calender for Tim's work, a little outfit for a friend of mine who just gave birth to a 12 pound 10 oz baby boy (via c-section) because I don't know if the outfit I already bought for him will even fit! I also got Morella a pack of 18 mo onsies, so that she can wear her cloth diapers without feeling tight. We had dinner in the food court and by the time we left I just wanted to go home and skip the trip to Woodman's to get a few supplies. Thankfully, Tim dropped me off and took Morella there himself to pick up the items.

While we were on this trip Morella hadn't had much milk at all to drink. Whatever she did drink was minimal and later on she would just spit out. So she ended up having lots of water and juice. Two things were noticed during this. 1. Her reflux improved and 2. Her poops were no longer runny and numerous.

This morning I got her to drink 2 ounces of milk before she refused more and by the time she went down for her nap we were rewarded with another huge poopy explosion. I have decided to call it quits with milk for now and make a switch to soymilk. We did try goats milk last week but she spit that out as well. Maybe because it tastes too much like cow's milk? In any case, soy milk doesn't taste like milk...and I'm hoping she will go for it. I don't think she has an allergy to milk, I just think that she can't digest it very well and it aggravates her reflux. I asked around to my friends who have babies with similar problems and they said that soy is just as good as milk and in some cases is even better because it has more vitamins and minerals. I tried her out on it a little tonight and she drank it. Here's hoping that this switch is painless and actually helpful! I really would like for her to drink more milk just because she is such a lightweight and I am concerned that she isn't getting enough vitamins. I am also starting to wonder if we shouldn't supplement with vitamins. I really want to avoid the liquid stuff though because I hear it tastes terrible. I would like for her to take some kind of oral vitamin like the chewables or whatever...but I don't think she is old enough for that. Oh the dilemma.

So yeah. In a nutshell - Morella is now going to try soy milk, the trip was good and we all survived, Crouton is looking normal and healthy and alive and cute, and I should go to bed.

Oh and hey...good job for reading all that! I promise not to be so distant between entries thus neccessitating long entries like this.

Okay. This is on the tail end of Morella's nap which Tim and I also just finished enjoying. I am hoping to get at least a few minutes of a post started before she wakes up. It's been a busy week so I'm just going to start and go from there.

I wish I had pictures to go along with this post, but if I added that right now there would be no content and I would never get done. I guess those will just have to wait.

We survived our first road trip! Not only was it my first real road trip that involved more than six hours of driving, but it was Morella's. Last Wednesday I had invited our out of town friend Chuck (who we visited in LA this past summer for vacation) to come over for appetizers and board games. Of course I didn't expect to play board games but instead just visit and chat. I also invited Sigrid and Matt, and Lowen who all came. We had wine, beer, and apparently a child's buffett dream (gummi worms, fruit slices, artichoke dip, shrimp, sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, fresh mozzerella cheese, tomatoes and basil leaves with olive oil from Italy). It was plenty and we had a great time catching up. Chuck announced that he and Kathleen are expecting their first little in August too. I loaded him up with books before he left, and loaded up Sigrid and Matt with Pluto for the weekend. I went to bed exhausted by 11:30PM.

Thursday -- how can I forget what happened Thursday? I think I must have felt like crap...and just muddled through the day. No wait, I felt great actually and because Tm had a flat tire on his bike we drove him to work, stopped at McDonald's for breakfast and brought it over to Hilary's for an impromptu playdate. All three kids were home with her because school was closed due to the artic cold snap. Morella hada good time and walked away with a really awesome set of magentic acrobat dolls. I even got a really cool apron! Tim has his gaming night so it was my day to single parent. I succeeded with flying colors, complete with a bath and had planned on going to bed early and packing later.

However, Hilary convinced me of the benefits of taking a shower first and then getting as much stuff together as I could afterward so I wouldn't risk forgetting something when we woke up at 2:00AM to pack the car and leave. I ended up powering through and packed darn near everything and was done by 10:00 at which point I did go to bed. Tim came home at 10.30 and did some stuff ... by the time we got up he had only one and half hours of sleep.

Two thirty arrived sooner that I would have thought. We got the car packed, selves dressed, and baby ready by 3:10 and we were off. Morella went back to sleep right away and we were able to get three hours of driving time in before we decided to wake up early at 6ish. Tim entertained her until 7:30 when we stopped for breakfast at McDonalds' playland. The idea was that she would be able to crawl around and get some exercise before heading back to the car. That backfired becaue the playland in Springfield, IL was only open from 9:00AM to 4:00PM. What the hell? While we were there she was also criticized by the old man working the counter for wearing pajamas! Geez, she is a baby!!! She can wear jammies all freaking day if she wants too. I walked her around the place for awhile and then let her leave greasy little handprints on the playland window before leaving.

We made it an hour before having to stop again at a rest stop for 40 minutes because of a poopy diaper and ... get this .... Morella wanted cuddles! I guess she got kind of lonely in the back seat because she wouldn't crawl around at all. She just wanted to be held so that we could mock choke each other. Finally we were back on the road and she feel asleep around St. Louis. Sadly the nap wasn't as long as we hoped because she awoke again during the Ozark's when Tim stopped for gas. Though the last two hours were dodgey she whinned but didn't full out drop into a tantrum baby rage. We made it to Springfield MO in one piece .... thank god.

Checked into the hotel quick and changed before heading over to see if we could catch the tail end of the bachelor party that was occuring at a local arcade called 1984. For five dollars, you can play unlimited old school arcade games like Tetris, Gallaga, Pac Man, etc from 11-9:00PM. They had bunch of pinball machines too which was 25 cents per game. Of course it was all free to those of us who showed up for the party. We greeted Chad and then wandered around playing games one handed while taking turns holding the baby. She still wasn't ready to be on the floor on her own until afterward when we stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at an Italian resturant called Nonna's. That was when she started the standing where she would hold onto her high chair and slowly start to crawl around and expand her circle chatting and flirting. She had a bean soup, I had lasagna with meat balls and Tim had spankonita (sp) with couscous.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and took a nap that lasted from 5:30 to 9:30. Whoops! I took Morella down to the main lobby to crawl around in the huge carpet space and see if maybe we could hook up with other wedding guests. They had a hospitality suite but no one was there when we showed up. Their were however, plenty of other folks waiting around in the lobby too. Eventually Morella crawled under their table and I went and introduced myself. They all knew Tim of course from his previous gaming experiences and Madison By Night. Super friendly bunch! I sent Tim out to get some supplies for Morella like milk, juice, berries and snacks. He returned with some beer, and at 11 Morella melted down so I took her back up and put her down. She chattered in her pack and play for about 20 minutes and then eventually went to sleep while I read some trashy vampire stuff and Tim headed down to hang out in the hospitality suite to play games and visit.

The next morning Tim was a little hungover and tired and slept most of the morning. Morella was up bright and early at 7:00 and enjoyed playing in the room. We all took a swim around 10, which didn't last long because the pool was kind of cool and Morella shivers easily. I bought her back up, gave her a bath then took a shower and then decided to go down to the hotel for an early lunch which ended up being their breakfast buffett. It was then I discovered that I could eat again...and boy did I eat! And what a mess Morella made! I introduced myself to guy (Tristan) I have seen at the Cardinal and Inferno the past 10 years and sat down at his table. We were joined a while later by an actor whom we had met the night before. Morella had a BLAST with her table company, packets of cream cheese and food. Afterwards, I brought her back up, we all took a nap and I told Tim that we needed to buy her new shoes before going to the wedding at 4:00.

Thankfully we had enough time for a good nap and a shopping excursion to get Morella new shoes. We got her a pair of Pedipeds instead of Robeez because the end we just don't like how they look. They are brown with colorful polka dots on them. We thought later that it wasn't very gender nuetral in case Crouton isn't a girl (which I am fairly certain is the case) but they didn't have any that were gender neutral. Oh well. Morella will put them to good use!

Back to the hotel to change and then off to the wedding for a last minute entrance as usual! The wedding was held at this ornate theater. Chad and his fiance's name were were on the billboard and there was a man riding a unicycle, blowing a whistle and yakking to all the cars that drove by (us included) and greeted those coming into the venue. Upon entering, there was a woman in stilts with a beehive hairdo, excess makeup and a feathered fan dancing, next to her was a woman in a colorful green 17th century green dress and overdone make up, a person encased in a red silk bag, and a another man roaming the entrance to the theater performing tricks and walking around entertaining. Inside a man was peforming with poi onstage while a 5 string band played tasteful music. About 50% of the audience was dressed up in their finest costumes, and were wearing beautifully ornate masks.

The ceremony started and Morella last about 10 minutes before Tim had to take her out. All of the wedding party were wearing exquisite masks. The ceremony had a bunch of traditions such as the wrapping of the mantilla, blessing of gold coins, lighting candles, ring exchange and vows and even a moment were the officiate had the couple turn around and take a minute to look at the their guests and really take in an appreciate all those who showed up. It was a unique ceremony and I throughly enjoyed sitting through it without having to worry about Morella.

Uh oh, Morella is awake. I guess I'll have to finish this later. I guess that is good considering how long it turning out.

An Announcement: Crouton

Undoctored

And doctored to help those who aren't proficient in the art of ultrasound reading

Yep it's true. Crouton is the reason I have been feeling so miserable for what feels like an eternity. To be honest, this is the earliest we are telling folks because today's ultrasound was just *that* good. I had to share and break my earlier rule of not showing ultrasound photos (made because generally it's hard to see anything). Crouton is due on August 1st -- our 11th anniversary. So my friends, that is what you get for your 11th anniversary-- a baby.

Crouton is a complete surprise and was conceived in the month of hell aka November. It's the best thing that came out of that month. It's a total surprise to us as we didn't have to pay anyone any money! It's the reason my supply dropped so suddenly and dramatically. It's the reason the migraines are back. The day I found out, Tim was at his conference in Seattle and I was so tired and exhausted. I was trying to convince myself to go out for some coffee, except... I was late ... or was I? There could have been two times that I ovulated and according to the first guess I was late, but in regards to the second one I had two more days to go. In the end, I had a test burning a hole in my bathroom drawer so I decided "Why not? What's another used up negative test?" I think you can imagine my shock when a line showed up.

I called and demanded a quantitative beta test and got it. My first number was 106. Two days later it was 466. Based on these numbers I was able to determine it was the later ovulation (on CD24 - nine days after the typical average) and that I caught this pregnancy really early on.

Two weeks later at six weeks I started spotting. It was a Saturday and I was sure it was over. But it was only confined to that day and the next day it was gone. Regardless I went in for a third beta and that was 32721 two days later it was near the 60000 mark...so all was good. Nothing to do but wait for the dating ultrasound, which we had on the 23rd of December. I was a little shocked on that day to see a real live baby in there!

This post is taking forever to write. Morella is needy today and so we made a batch of sugar cookies to cheer her up. I just got done playing with her for 10 minutes and thereby bought myself a few minutes to finish this. I can only imagine the chaos it's going to be when there are two little kids under two in this joint.

I think it might be a boy. What else can cause me so much grief than a member of the opposite sex?

So yeah. I pretty much just had a four day migraine. It started on Thursday and ended sometime last night. It really kind of sucked. Wait, no kind of about it. It totally sucked. That said, I want to you to realize that ANYTHING I did was an absolute miracle of willpower.

--Had take out on Sunday night at JJ's -- a chicken and fish shop. It was okay, Tim wasn't a fan of his fried oysters. I liked my ocean perch just fine and thought the coleslaw was good. Morella even ate some fish and fries and got better at dipping.

--Made two dinners tonight -- falafel and a backup burrito pie in case Morella didn't like the falafels and because Tim is working late tomorrow night and I didn't know if I would have the umpf to cook then. I was inspired. I also did two sink loads o...oh wait

--did two sink loads of dishes
--attend playgroup today (requires getting both of us dressed, ready and out the door).
--kept up with my journal
--made the bed every day
--wash, dried and put away a load of diapers
--took care of Morella
--got the mail

--made reservations at a fancy hotel for a wedding that we are planning on attending this weekend in Springfield, MO. It's going to be Morella's first long road trip...heck mine too! I've never been to MO, and I am kind of looking forward to the time spent at the hotel with the pool and what not...and not being home.

--Made plans for having folks over this Wednesday for board games and appetizers. Our friend Chuck is visiting from Baton Rouge, LA for the week.

--Picked up around the house
--Watched a movie -- Little Miss Sunshine again. It was on TV. And the second time I still didn't really think it was that great.

--Took a shower
--Vacuumed
--Finished watching Dexter
--Went to bed early
--Played Fallout III with Tim
--Updated my journal
--Survived the headache -- dude that is huge!

Headache hell. It's nonstop.

Morella got a new baby doll today. This time she has gone multicultural. She has five total now...when will the babydoll madness stop?!

Single parenting day. I did awesome today. I woke up with a terrible headache, and despite that I accomplished stuff. I took some tylenol and drank a Coke classic before getting MOrella and myself dressed and heading to the grocery store to buy some milk and cinnamon rolls. I have been trying to make them myself for the last couple of days .... but folks it isn't happening.

I think the acute lack of "umph" is starting to creep back in or maybe it was the headache. You know, focusing on things like: taking down the christmas tree, the cards, the decorations etc are little things that you do one at a time and slowly. I helps to take the mind off the pain and keep the baby occupied as she "helps" with inspecting ornaments.

I even babysat the easiest baby ever -- he took a nap 1/2 way though so I covered him up with a blanket, and laid down on the floor next to him and snoozed a little myself. Morella of course was knee deep in her afternoon nap so all was peaceful and quiet. Ahhh.

After he left I decided to keep the glider in it's current spot next to the entertainment center, moved a bookself next to the couch and ... well basically I made a play area where the glider and coffee table used to be. I also moved the rug from the middle of the couch to there. I mean, it makes sense. It was getting trashed faster than ever where it was because food from the coffee table (snacks for morella) was getting dropped and ground into the rug. And it's not like we USED the carpet there. Now in it's new spot, she can play on it, have traction, and when food falls from the coffee table it's easy to clean up! Just a wipe wipe here and a wipe wipe there.

My point, is that the living room looks nice, it's a change of pace and even Tim didn't complain about it when he got home.

I also roasted some cornish hens, squash and made a baked potato for dinner. Oh man was that ever good. Morella gobbled up a bunch of the chicken, fed the dog and cat, and after three bites of squash threw overboard. What a stinker.

A lovable stinker though.

I kind of wish I had a good book right now to read. I have just been reading through a best of science fiction collection that I got two years ago. Short stories that don't always make any sense. I wouldn't mind being engrossed in a real story...with characters I can sink my teeth into. You know what I almost feel like? A romance. Yeah, that would be perfect.

Well then. Perhaps my 6th sense isn't that bad after all. Morella was fine. No ear infections to be seen. Throat looked fine. Abdomen was soft. No temperature. Overall she was fine and healthy. Little bugger. As Tim said though "I will not feel guilty for taking her in. The peace of mind is well worth it." Yes, indeed. Afterward we celebrated by going to Burger King to kill time until it was time to pick up Tim and head to the mall. Tim got new glasses and a reintroduction to contacts tonight!

The one ..."GAH!" moment though was when she was weighed. Ready folks? She weighed 17 pounds and 11 ounces. Yes, that's right. She gained one lousy ounce in the course of a month.

Sigh. I wonder if she still on the charts.

oh and the doctor said "Her gums look sore." So you see, it was teething. Sheesh.

Fuckity fuck. I think Morella is sick again. I thought Mom's were supposed to know this shit? I thought we were supposed to have some 6th sense about our kids not being right or whatever. Instead, it's like all that instinct went to Tim.

Morella hasn't been right today and yesterday for sure. And today is worse than it was yesterday. She is not drinking or eating a whole lot (especially today), she is clingy, crys at the drop of the hat and keeps pointing to the medicine cabinet and to her three favorite food - -blueberries, raspberries and creamy swiss cheese wedges. I texted Tim earlier and said she was being a handful again and that I gave her tyenol at 9.15. He then asked if she had a fever and if she was sick....I didn't even think of it. I guess I thought she was teething again because yesterday her gums were red...sigh.

Then when she picking at her lunch she kept rubbing her right ear. Great. Just great. I called the clinic, a nurse called me back and we are going to bring her in at 3.15 for an ear check. Of course this is all a little more complicated because Tim took the car to work today. So now he has to drive back, pick us up, drop him off and then go to the appointment and then...sheesh I don't know. He needed the car for a reason because after work he has a eye doctor appointment. I guess we could go back and pick him up at the appointed time.

So much for my idea of cornish hens in the slow cooker today. For one, the cord was immersed in water and needs at least 24 hours in my opinion to dry out before I try to use it. And secondly because there is no more time, and thirdly I could oven roast it but now since she eats at 5:00-5:30 there isn't going to be time. I HATE dinner time. HATE HATE HATE it.

Today is totally fired.

And the funny thing, I was feeling a little lively today too. I managed to wash the kitchen floor, do two loads of laundry, wash the dishes, clean off the counter and unravel some botched crochet work.

Why can't babies come with diagnostic tools? And more importantly when is my 6th sense going to kick in?

It occurred to me that I hadn't posted this set of photos from when Blogger was out. It has been sitting in queue ever since, but instead of having it get buried I'll just do it now.

Okay, these aren't all that Christmas related. I have to go through those yet (except for the two from my phone) the others are from before xmas.

"What's down there anyway?" Morella and Innsmouth investigate.

Okay, these next three photos are a "set" in that Morella has this incredibly dopey, goofy look on her face when she is doing something she isn't sure she should be doing. She looks at me with this expression waiting for my reaction. In this case, she is playing with the phone.

Man, they crack me up every time.

Morella and her Daddy on Christmas morning.

Morella and her first baby doll. She ended up getting three of them and was in baby doll heaven. This is the one we got for her, we never wrapped it but she wasn't able to play with it until Christmas eve. Well, she played with the doll while it was in the box....

Morella and her grandma (my Mom)

Morella and my brother James.

_____________

And in other news, it was one of those days where I had to "Morella!" a lot. She got into the cat litter three times, the toilet paper twice, four or five poopy diapers, peed on the floor during naked time (she was really mad about the last poopy diaper and I needed to sponge her down anyway) and then rolled around in it resulting in a bath. Dinner was too spicy for her so I got lots of screams, and ... ugh. Overall, I cannot wait for that other front tooth to break through. We all need a break from it!

Tim has the car tomorrow. I got another day at home with the M-Bomb. I did manage washing diapers, washclothes and bibs today though, took a shower and got dressed, napped, made dinner, as well as finishing that pile in the middle of the living room. So yeah, that's like a couple of things, right? Oh wait, I wrote in my journal a bit and last night I actually worked on Morella's baby book! One day I'll actually be caught up. I just don't want her to grow up and have that baby book where only one page is filled out. That's so sad. Even worse, I don't want that to be the only baby book filled out whereas other possible siblings get one lousy page or no book at all! How sad.

*Yeah Mom, I'm talking about you. :P

(*My Mom doens't read my journal -- so no feelings will be hurt).

One more thing. As soon as we got home from Borders and I undressed Morella from her winter gear -- I thought to myself "Thank god I don't have to go anywhere until Thursday." Even then my doctors appointment was cancelled and needs to be rescheduled. But I did say to Emily that we should go to the Childrens Musuem on Wednesday or Thursday to get the kids out of the house and into some fun environment where I can still pretty much lounge. Ha ha ha.

Tim needs the car on Wednesday so yeah, no going anywhere until Thursday for me! Awesome. I might do a walk or something if the weather permits.

Today I:

--went to a last minute play group meeting at Cool Beans and only other person showed up. I was glad that I went for that reason alone.

--Stopped at Borders afterward to get a calender for the kitchen. I also indulged in a Sticker Day by Day book -- I like those stickers! A crock pot book also found it's way into my arms.

--I put Morella down to crawl around and some dude came up and said "Oh a rugrat." Then he looked at me and said "Oh I suppose that one belongs to you." Yes indeed, that rugrat IS mine.

--Napped.

--Feed Morella breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner.

--Changed at least 3 poopy diapers.

--Made miso soup, and chicken stir fry with udon noodles for dinner, per Tim's request.

--Swept everything in the living room into a big pile in the middle of the floor. My original idea was to clean this way. My Mom once told me that sometimes the best way to do it is to put everything in a big pile and then put the pile away -- that way you get less distracted. Well, when Tim came home from work he walked in and said "What is this pile of crap?" And I said "Shut up, I'm cleaning."

It's still there.

--I washed dishes....uh at least most of them. I also committed the dishwashing sin where I left the sink full of water and here looking at the internet. I am going to have get my hand wet and let the drain out or fish it out the plug with a fork so I don't have to touch cold water. Or I can leave it over night....ha ha. It's been done before.

--Checked the mail and got a wonderful card from Libby -- a regular reader. :D Thanks for the card, as soon I finished reading it outloud to Morella and showing her pictures I conjured up images of me walking into my office and persuing my stationary collection carefully in order to select the most perfect combination of papers, sticker and ink -- then Morella melted down.

--Morella has been a foul mood all afternoon. I think she is teething. Her other front tooth gum part is pretty red and she is just so .... short fused. She's crying over everything and nothing. I gave her tylenol and I think it's worn off because she is howling about having yet another poopy diaper changed and taking a bath -- which thankfully Tim is giving to her.

--Made the bed.

And later on, I am going to:

--put Morella to bed.
--Watch an episode of dexter
--Look at the pile of crap in the living room, and maybe do something? Hm.
--Go to bed.

Last day of vacation. Then Tim is back to work and everything is back to the regular routine. Blah. I am not ready for it. I need another week of last week. It was perfect. Lots of sleep. Help with the baby. Mellow. Relaxed. Ahh.

Morella got the Little People Ark set yesterday from her grandparents so she is crawling around Noah right now going "hmmm". I am sure they are trying to figure out what else in this house should be saved. She only drank two ounces of milk so far today. What a nutter butter!

Tim has his make up game day. So this crying, yelling "pay attention to me baby" is all mine...uh starting now I guess.

So, I was in the office cleaning up and organizing a bit while Morella played. I was clearing off the computer desk so that I could see the brown of the wood and found, to my horror, the mortage bill/check under the keyboard complete with a coffee stain on the envelope.

"Oh shit!" I immediately took Morella to the living room to wake Tim up from his morning nap. "I have to call and find out how long the grace period is or figure out a way to pay now." I deposited her, and then went to do battle.

I called citimortage and after about 5 minutes of going through the voice recording maze I got a live human being from India. He asked my name, and I gave it. Then he said "How can I help you Mr. Eagle."

"Uh, first I am not male," I said. But was already talking about something else.
"Sir? I'm MRS Eagle!" I said a little more forcefully.
"Blah blah blah blah blah, now how can I help you?" the man asked.
"SIR! I AM FEMALE!!!!!! I AM A WOMAN! THAT IS MRS EAGLE...er RED EAGLE to you!" I holllered over the phone.

"Oh, I am sorry about that Mrs Eag...er Red Eagle," he answered.
"That's okay," I said. "Now, I just found our mortage payment under the keyboard. What is the grace period for receiving these checks?"

"15 days," he replied.
"Thank you, that's all I needed to know," I answered.
"Thank for you for calling citimortgage, have a good day and a happy new year!" he said cheerfully.

Tidbits:

• Had breakfast over at Lowen's with Morella for the post new year's party. Everyone was hungover or tired except me (including Morella!). That was nice. Got a different array of cool breakfast items, and even brought some back for Tim, which also doubled as lunch for Morella.
• I was talking with Tim in the office, and Morella crawled into the bedroom holding a piece of fleece that she has taken a liking too. A minute later I heard a cry, I rush in there to find no Morella! I heard her though -- crying piteously and soon discovered she was under the bed. I call Tim in immediately and we both looked under each side of the bed. Tim found her stuck under the bed on his side. She had crawled under it chasing a cat with her piece of fleece. In Tim's words (he emphasizes that his rescue was nothing dramatic) "She was curled up into a crouch -- so all I did was lower head so she could flatten a bit and then just guided her out."
• I can't believe she fit under the bed -- much less crawled there!
• Later on, I found a pair of sunglasses that run on the small side and brought them to Morella. I put them them on her face and made a big show of how great she looked. She took them off a few seconds later. I then took her into the office to show Daddy how fabuluous she looked and she hammed it up! She kept them on and grinned big. Ahh, is there anything sweeter than a baby who hams it up with sunglasses on?
  
• Tim is watching Munich. I have no idea what is going on.
• We watched an episode of Dexter -- great stuff.