8 Months

Happy 8 months, monster and Merry first Christmas.
You're the best gift we've ever been given.

Getting Older

Recently, I attended a lingerie shower for a friend who is getting married this month. Partly because I love the store and partly out of guilt because I can't attend her wedding, I went to Anthropologie for the lingerie. I found this eggplant silk number. As I was at the counter paying for it, the cashier said, "Isn't this the best?" I agreed. She continued, "It's a fraction of the price of our dresses, but you could totally wear it as a dress." Outwardly, I nodded my head, but my inner monologue went something like this, "That seems totally out of the question. Wait a minute. Am I so old that the thought of wearing a tissue paper thin, barely thigh skimming piece of lingerie as a dress seems totally preposterous? I think so. Sigh."

Dialogue

Had you been in the car with us when we went to get groceries on Saturday, this is what you would have heard:

Tim: (motioning towards the car ahead of us as we sat stopped at the red light) "Look at the curly hair on that person in the back seat."

Me: "Oh my gosh. It looks like poodle hair."

Tim: (laughing) "You're right. It totally does. I wonder if it's naturally like that or if they perm it?"

A moment of silence follows as we sip our coffee and regard the hair.

Me: "Is that an old woman or a young boy?"

Tim: "I cannot tell."

...

We never did figure it out, but it sure was entertaining.

Thinking ahead

I'm a planner. This is not as easy to do anymore now that I have a baby, but I find comfort in it. So, I cling to instances when I can, like planning ahead to send out our first Christmas cards as a real live family with a child. Photos taken: check.

6 Months

Happy 6 months, monster. We couldn't love you more.

5 Months

In case you are wondering how it's going...

this just about sums things up perfectly.

Everything is a wonder.

I am LOVING being able to experience the world through the eyes of my son.

The Whole Enchilada

I posted previously with a link to the sneak peak of the photos. Here are the finals. I love every one.

Why I didn't sleep soundly last night.

dear wild animal,

allow me to repeat myself, dear WILD animal, you are wild. animals that are wild, usually live in the wild and not under my house as you have found it a good idea to do. neither my husband nor i appreciate your midnight scratchings as you claw your way up into our shower cavity no doubt building a nest and spreading your filthy germs all over our crawl space. equally unappreciative is our four month old son who, like us, does not appear overjoyed when the stench of your den is wafting into our bathroom and by extension all our bedrooms. please go back to where you belong. we're pretty sure you're a skunk, so we'd like it if you left quietly and pardon the pun, didn't make a stink.

sincerely,

the homeowner

I can't say I've never won anything,

but this was the best thing by far. Until last week, my list of wins started and stopped in high school when I won 3 tapes (yes, you read that right, tapes, not CD's) from a radio station. They weren't even singers I listened to, but the thrill of being caller number 10 outweighed such trivialities. Then, at grad night, whilst my friends were winning super-cool, usable prizes like TV's and bicycles, I won a share of stock. I was so thrilled. (Note sarcasm.) Now that I've had time to reflect (and the stock has split once, so that I now own 2 shares-shares which net me a dividend of fifty-two cents every six months), I wonder if any of my friends grad night prizes are earning them money. I would venture a guess that's a "no". But that was where my winning streak ended, until last week. I casually entered a contest on a friend of a friend's blog site to win a free photo session for my baby and then promptly forgot I entered until I got the congrats email from the blog owner/photographer. YAY! We met this week and the shoot went great. I look forward to seeing the final shots, but here is a sneak preview she posted on the blog. I know I'm a tad bit prejudice, but I think they're the cutest photos I've ever seen.

It only took 2 years.

I planted this peony from a bulb over two years ago. It grew great, never flowered and seemed to die over the winter. I mourned the loss and went on with my life. Imagine my surprise when it grew back even larger that next spring. Sadly, it still didn't flower. I knew enough last winter not to be surprised when it seemed to die. (Apparently, it does best when totally ignored from October to March.) Happily, it flowered this year only a few weeks after the birth of my son. I like to think it wasn't just a coincidence. To commemorate the flowering, I took a picture.Take no notice of the dying backyard grass. I can only hope to keep a limited number of living things alive and without a sprinkler system, the grass is impossible to maintain in the summer.

Stressed

So, I recently had a baby (not that you couldn't tell or anything). It's been an adjustment and our cat is taking it the hardest. When he becomes anxious he secretly starts licking a spot on the inside of his back leg and usually we don't discover he's started until it's bald and starting to become infected. Such was the case when the baby arrived, only this time in our sleep deprived state, we didn't discover the spot until it was almost 1 1/2 inches across. I sent out a cry for help via facebook (eschewing our local vet which we hate (that's a whole other story)) and a friend recommended Rescue Remedy for Pets sold at Whole Foods.
It has been a lifesaver. Within seconds of giving Griffin his first dose, he was lounging upside down in contentment in the middle of the floor (something he hadn't done in months). Happily, he also stopped licking the spot and fur has started growing back. I highly recommend this amazing product.

Photos ( at 3 weeks old)

If you live in Northern California and are in need of professional photography, look up Katie. She's great!
Platinum Photography

Things are busy

but I love every minute.

Deacon is Here

It's a boy!

Race to the Finish

I always have grandiose ideas for how I will start posting more often, but they never come to fruition. I recently switched positions at work and between that and growing ever larger, my energy stores are quite depleted. For now, you will have to settle for the latest belly shot.

8.5 months

*Boy am I ready to have my waist back again.*

Decorating in the dark.

Sorry for the long delay in posting. I've been swamped at work and that tires me out, so I go home and it's all I can do to make it through dinner before I am dozing on the couch. This doesn't make for great blog reading. Plus, I don't mean to make this into a blog all about my child, but that's about all that's going on right now that I can write about. I don't work at a place that lends itself to the sharing of stories, at least not without the fear of being sued. So, here's the latest pregnancy/baby news:

Updated belly shot at 6.5 months

The rest of this is stuff we've amassed for the baby's room which is currently in a state of remodel. Since we're not finding out whether it's a boy or a girl, we've gone with the gender neutral green and brown. I figure I'll throw some blue or pink in there with it once I have the baby.

The Crib

Bedding for the crib. We don't have this part yet, but we're registered for it.

Curtains

Misc. items:

It's probably obvious, but I purchased the green shade. I don't have a base yet.

Again with the obvious (green), although I did contemplate the yellow.

I have the elephant in the back.

5 Months

I figure I am way behind the times in posting the ever-popular belly shot. Truthfully, I had nothing to post until about a month ago. Without further ado, the belly at Christmas (five months):

We've been invited to an engagement party later this month and the attire is cocktail. Ordinarily, this would not be much cause for alarm, but in this case when I saw the invite, I moaned, "where will I find a cocktail maternity dress." Amazingly, it wasn't as hard as I thought. Perhaps I do not give maternity clothing enough credit.

I despair every year.

In case you are wondering how I feel about being back at work after 17 glorious days off, my feelings are best described by this quote from Michael Scott of NBC's "The Office":

Listen.

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