Monday, August 31, 2009

I'm just saying

I have a lot to update you with! But, today is my first day back at work and in short it is hectic, sad, weird, and sort of ok I guess. *Hopefully* tomorrow I will update you on the rest of my summer with Christina including our trip to Georgia and my sister's engagement party as well as Christina's first birthday! I've got LOTS of pictures and videos that you won't want to miss. :-) In the meantime, I totally stole this from an email that has been going around. I don't know where it started, but it is so funny. I edited it slightly and took some stuff out, here is what I consider the really good stuff . . .

Random Thoughts

-More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about
is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's
not only better, but also more directly involves me.

-Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're
wrong.

-Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the
complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead
of just doing a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you
have to first do something like check your watch or phone, or make a grand arm
gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area
thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

-I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

-Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know" feature on
Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends
with?

-There is a great need for sarcasm font.

-Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly
realize I had no idea what the f was going on when I first saw it.

-How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

- I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your
computer history if you die.

-The only time I look forward to a red light is when I am trying to finish a text.

- Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

- I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

- Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear
is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

- How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile
because you still didn't hear what they said?

- Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using 'as in' examples, I
will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to
spell my boss's last name to an attorney and said "Yes that's G as in...(10
second lapse)..ummm...Goonies"

- While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively
swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.

- Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person
died.

- I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower
first and THEN turn on the water.

-I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

- Bad decisions make good stories.

-Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is
public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun
that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

-Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and
say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know
my name, I know where I'm from, this shouldn't be a problem....

-You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when
you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the
rest of the day.

-Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have
to restart my collection.

-I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want
to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make
any changes to.

- "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

-I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but
when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What did
you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

- I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone
of importance the entire day. What a waste.

-When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't
already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

-I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like
about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

-Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know
what time it is.

-I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer
when they call.

-Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Looking Back

The day you were born you were so small and fragile. With one smile you stole my heart.

At one month old you were very hungry and sad but that didn’t last long once we had your tongue-tie corrected.

At two months old you were stronger, healthier and happier. You were starting to hold your head up on your own and began to love the sound of your own voice.

At three months old you were posing for your first photo shoot and at four months you were celebrating your first Christmas. That month you also laughed for the first time and melted my heart with that sound.

At five months old you were changing so rapidly that everyday was a new surprise. You were mastering the art of picking up toys and putting them in your mouth. You started teething, began rolling over, and started eating baby cereal.

At six months old you were sitting up, giving kisses and holding your own bottle.

At seven months you were even more beautiful and happier than ever. You demanded attention and always got it. You began crawling in your own way (more like swimming on land) and life as you knew it became much more exciting.

At eight months old you still had no teeth, but that didn’t stop you from feeding yourself finger foods.

At nine months old you could barely sit still. All you wanted to do was play, play, play.

At ten months you loved to pull yourself up to a standing position and clap your hands whenever you were excited, even sometimes for no reason at all. You could wave hello or goodbye and you could make noises that distinctly sounded like words, dada was one of your favorites. You were also baptized this month with friends and family celebrating in your honor.

At eleven months old you began doing the army crawl in addition to your swim like crawl and the traditional crawl. But crawling wasn't all, you were cruising every chance you got. You didn't take any steps alone, but you sure loved to walk holding on to furniture. You were also more verbal than ever and you began saying actual words like hi, dada, yeah and yay.

Now here we are at your one year birthday. Where did the time go!? I know this month will bring more changes and the next month will too. Then soon it will be another year gone by and another after that. I will watch you explore, learn and grow over the years and cherish each passing day.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

A Note to my Daughter on her First Birthday

Today will be the first of many birthdays to celebrate. Today you will eat cake and open your own presents. You will probably try to eat the wrapping paper and play with the boxes. Today you will hug and kiss family and friends who love you very much. Today we are all here for you. We are here to celebrate your life.

Today we remember how much has changed in just one year. From a feeling in my belly, to a bump no one could mistake, you grew inside me for 9 long months. The day you came was a very special day. You were 7 pounds and beautiful, in fact, perfect in every way. You smiled even then and haven’t stopped since.

From that very special day a little girl began to grow. You’ve become your own little person that amazes me each day. Your unbelievable spirit glows inside you and touches everyone you meet.

Today I will hold you close to me, although you might try to wiggle away as a one year old often does. But, I will always remember your little hands and tiny feet. I will always remember your first laugh and your sloppy kisses. I will enjoy watching you grow up and change as I have done this past year. I will always love you more and more each day. And today will be your day, your first celebration, your birthday.

Happy Birthday Christina, I love you!!

Monday, August 17, 2009

Our Summer: Part One

Here is our summer so far, in a nutshell (no particular order):

- Christina was invited to a fellow daycare baby's first birthday party and Dora was there. Christina doesn't seem thrilled in this picture, but she was actually very interested in all of the festivities.


- We spent time hanging out by the pool:




- Christina has spent a lot of time in her highchair. She eats so much, although now she hardly ever wants me to feed her. She loves her finger foods. Some of her favorites are shredded cheese, zuccini, blueberries and peas. I'm so proud that she eats such a variety of food, unlike me (where's the pasta?? lol). Here she is rocking the bib her Godparents gave her. Go Lions!


- We went to Toys-R-Us a few times recently. When I saw the "tot rod" I just had to have Christina try it out. Christina loved it, so I knew Nik and I had to get it for her birthday. We got it a little early because we wanted her to have it before I go back to work. This way there is lots of time to enjoy it (and the nice weather).

Christina loves her car so much. She never wants to get out of it and she'll even sit in it while we are inside and it is stationary. It is so cute to see her enjoy it so much. Here she is trying it out for the first time in the store:



And here she is in her very own tot rod!


Also at Toys-R-Us, we put Christina on one of those "rides" at the front of the store. It is the kind that you put the quarter in and then it moves and music plays for a couple of minutes. Christina seemed to have so much fun, and the cutest thing was that she refused to sit down. My little daredevil wanted to stand during the entire ride.



- We went to a couple of different zoo's. Her first trip to the zoo it was just me and my Mom with Christina. Grandma insisted on the dress, lol:




This was her second time at the zoo (a different zoo this time). We went with my sister Mackenzie, Nik's brother Alex, and my Step Mom.


Yummy stroller . . .

- We have taken several music classes and it is clear that Christina is a huge fan of music. She likes to dance and sing. I think her favorite song is Twinkle Twinkle, although she enjoys several songs. She also loves those egg shaker morracco things. When she gets a hold of them, she does not want to let them go! - We spent a lot of time down the shore at my Mom's house, on the boardwalk or at a restaurant by the water. One of our cousin's from England came to visit and we took him out to a fun restaurant right on the water. They had a live band and Christina really enjoyed the music and the view.





- Recently we took a day trip to Sesame Place and although Christina has never watched Sesame Street, she really enjoyed the parade and all of the shows. Well, she did get a little startled by some of the characters walking around, but she eventually warmed up to them.





In fact, she had such a good time that she was too tired to make it to the car:


- We've visited several playgrounds. We went on a few slides and Christina has done a lot of swinging. She loves to swing!






All of the running around meant that Christina usually slept in the car. Thank goodness I figured out a way to keep Christina's head from falling forward when she falls asleep in the car:



I guess this summer really has been wearing Christina out because I also found her passed out in her highchair a couple of times:


- Luckily we have gotten to spend a lot of time with a friend of mine and her daughter. I'm not sure how she feels about posing pictures of her and her little one on here, so I'm leaving them out. But, in addition to Sesame Place, we also went to Kid Junction together. For Christina's age there isn't too much to do, but it was still nice to get out and have her crawl around and play in a safe environment with other children.



FLI (Family Leave Insurance) which is the reason I get to have off this summer, is in place so that mother's have a chance to bond with their child. I have to say, we've bonded :-) But, we were also lucky enough to get some bonding time in with her Daddy. Look at what a cutie she is here:


- Even though we have succesfully managed to get out of the house and do something at least once a day, we have also had some fun at home.







- In addition to all of that, we've had the chance to visit with several friends and family members, spent lots of time in the pool, made new baby friends, and we still have a trip to Georgia next week for my sister's engagement party as well as Christina's birthday the weekend after. What a summer! From fun times and new experiences to cruising all over the living room and growing teeth, this summer sure has been eventful. Now if only I can figure out a way to have off every summer. Hmph . . . I think my sisters Mindy and Rachel had the right idea when they decided to become teachers.

Friday, August 7, 2009

I spy with my little eye

Guess what! Christina got her first tooth! Well, sort of :-) It's about time!

At the beginning of this week, Nik and I felt something very sharp on Christina's gums. We knew it was a tooth, but we still couldn't see anything. My Mom said she saw something, but it wasn't until mid-week when I finally saw two little teeth had made it through the gums! It is still hard to see them, you kind of have to get just the right angle, but they are there!

I don't know how long it is before they will come all the way up, so now I guess she sort of has two teeth. I tried to take a picture, but I really don't think you can see them in these pictures (bottom, middle). Here they are anyway, my little 11 month old just getting her first teeth!




UPDATE: I have a better picture of her new teeth (which still haven't come up all the way yet). Take a look at this:



Ok, lol, now that I put it up I realize you still can't see it in that picture. Hmph, let me try to zoom in . . .



Ok, this is better. Can you see the two white bumps on top of her bottom gums? Those are her teeth!

Saturday, August 1, 2009

First Trip to the Zoo

My Mom and I took Christina to the Zoo last week and we had such a good time. I think she was more interested in the children running around than she was with the animals though. The animals scared her a couple of times too.

The first time she got scared was when my Mom decided to feed a horse. My Mom announced that she wasn't scared, held out her hand with the popcorn in it and as the horse leaned in to take a bite, she screamed and jumped back. So yeah, that kind of scared Christina. But I couldn't stop laughing. In fact, I'm laughing now, it was just so freakin' funny lol! Anyway, Christina was fine, we told her everything was ok and then I proceeded to feed the horse without any screaming or jumping involved.

The second time Christina got scared was when we were hanging out with a Ram. At first the Ram had his head sticking out of the bars and we were just petting him, but once he saw me go for the Popcorn box he immediately stood up and put the top half of his body over the fence. It was pretty intimidating, even for me.

I took a bunch of pictures and videos while we were at the zoo. Unfortunatley I don't think I managed to get Christina in any of the pictures with the animals or vice versa. I guess that is what happens when they are on one side of the fence and she is on the other. ;-)