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I survived Jeff being gone for a week of travel. It was hard since I got up at 5 am to get most things done before waking up Allison. And the worst part of that was she got her 4 month shots one afternoon. So I kept her dosed on Tylenol for 24 hours. I also survived a week of minimal breastfeeding. I'm only feeding her once in the morning and twice at night. I may continue that for a couple more weeks and then try to stop all together. I had high hopes of making it 6 months but it's difficult trying to pump at work and worry about leaking through my shirt. Yep, had to give you that visual, sorry if it's tmi :)
As of last week Allison was 13.8 pounds and 24.5 inches long with a big head for that size. I've been told the big head comes from the father's side.
Jeff's parents are here this weekend and grandpa had a photoshoot yesterday. This photo with Ginger (cat) made me laugh.
I have a long to-do list started on my Iphone that includes stroller shopping, catching up on thank you notes for some too-adorable-for-words gifts (quilt and step stool in particular), freelance work, researching baby proofing the house, cleaning and more cleaning before a party next week. oh and I'll need a nap today so we can finally make it out downtown to party with friends. yeah!

What a treat for July - at noon it was 75 degrees out and partly cloudy. Here's how we spent some time outside on a lazy Sunday.

I took this cute photo of Allison the other morning. She's been sleeping like this lately with her hands behind her head. She does several things that make me worried she's going to push her ears out like dumbo :)

From this angle it looks like she's sitting on a ball, well more like a water balloon. I'm still amazed at how much diapers can hold over night. We've given daycare the cheaper diapers, but I'll only buy Pampers for at home. I may start buying Pampers for daycare; she's blowing out an outfit everyday it seems. yuck!

Last Thursday I took Allison to the dr, as recommended by the daycare workers. She was just fine. I stayed home with her to make sure she was ok for a long weekend in Indiana, sure enough. So we got on the road early Friday morning. We went to cousin Jennifer's that night and Saturday morning went into Brookville to see the rest of the clan. There was a nice big party for Jeff's grandma's 88th birthday. When I say big, I mean she had 5 kids there with spouses, at least 11 grandkids there some with spouses, and I think 11 great-grand kids there. We all sang happy birthday to her, someone said something nice about being surrounded by family and then funny man Mark said something like "look at what all you did". I thought it was funny anyway. Kinda made me think about being a mom and creating life and more generations.

Allison weighed in at 13.1 pounds last week. She'll get weighed again tomorrow before they give her shots for her 4 month checkup. Last time she got shots she had pain screams that were just horrible, so I'm dreading tomorrow night. And daycare wont give Tylenol, so I guess I'll be running up there at lunch. Because as soon as she has a fever they kick her out. On a happy note, she is starting to grab stuff. Its really cute when she's in deep concentration staring at something trying to figure out how to get it or whatever she's thinking. Ofcourse everything she gets goes straight to her mouth. She's still working on getting her whole fist in her mouth too :)

Jeffs parents will be visiting again soon. Those are about the only visitors we get. I'm a little sad to think that my family will have big gaps in watching her grow up. My parents will see her once or twice a year and who knows when my brother or sister will come. I guess I knew that since we're the only ones that live in town we'd be doing it on our own, but sometimes the emotions hit hard and it does feel like Jeff and I are in seclusion. Guess I need to quit posting pics online and writing on this thing and maybe people would come around more.

So in writing that little sappy bit it made me remember something Rob Thomas said at a Matchbox Twenty concert. He said something about yes he knows they have more sad songs than happy songs, but when he's happy he's out having fun, not putting a pen to paper and sitting around at home.

So I'm about to look up some fun things to do.

Something in that long weekend must have spoiled Allison. She's been fussy at daycare the last 2 days. We're still not sure whats going on. She's still on breastmilk thats been frozen, so I have no idea if it's something I ate, or maybe she just needs more entertainment.
For a while now she's been all about her hands in her mouth, and then just in the last week she's started grabbing things better. She even held her own bottle for about 20 seconds. That may have been a fluke thing :) I keep forgetting to ask daycare if she's done that. So while she's discovered her hands, she hasn't found her feet yet.

I was playing with the video on my new Iphone and posted a video to YouTube. It's Jeff playing and talking to Allison and getting that cute baby talk back. I still need to work my videography skills. haha.

I attempted an step and sculpt aerobics class yesterday that kicked my butt. I was worried I wouldn't be able to walk today, but my legs are just the right about of soreness. I may have to try it again next week :)

We had a fun weekend in Birmingham with the Machamers. The guys got their fix of card playing in, and Karen and Claire didn't seem to fight over baby time :) We even took Allison to a restaurant/bar and sat in their outdoor patio area. Our main purpose was to try some of the new high gravity beers that Hsv does not have yet. Allison was a great baby and I think liked having new stuff to check out. The problem came on the ride home when we got stuck in 4th of July fireworks traffic. She was screaming and poor auntie Claire tried her hardest to calm her down. We didn't think of it till later, we probably should have turned the light on so she could see better. Anyway, 30+ minutes in a car with a crying baby stressed me out like I haven't been before. At home crying isn't as big a deal b/c you can try multiple options to fix it but in a car you're trapped. I'm laughing now knowing Allison won't ever remember that, but I sure was worked up. And my other worry is that episode may have been another year of birth control for Claire. I really hope not ;)

Earlier we said we wouldn't show her any tv, but now we're considering a portable dvd player and Baby Einstein for a future long road trip. I guess I could keep the tv to a special treat only available in the car.

Here's a photo of Greg drooling over his creation

Life is back to busy so I don't get to blog as often. Jeff and I have not watched TV for an entire week. Seems like that was half our life pre-baby. I had someone ask me what we do when we get home and I laughed. Most of it is consumed with Allison. Since I only see her awake a few hours a day during week, I'd like to spend it with her. The other part is taken up with washing bottles and laundry. After she goes to bed we usually get on the computer.

I'm very thankful that a few things have fallen into place at the right time. Allison is still sleeping through the night which makes working an 8-9 hour day possible. I also am able to fit into most of my workout clothes which times out good with my company paying for a gym membership. Now, I'm still having trouble finding an extra hour in the day to workout. I think that will be easier in a few months when I'm not breastfeeding anymore. In more ways than ever, my life is revolving around how big my boobs are. .... for instance, I think I'll get on the treadmill first thing on the morning, nope boobs hurt, so I get in the shower and ack, they're dripping everywhere. Or I get to work and the boss springs a 3 hour meeting and I think crap, when do I have to pump. ...stuff like that makes it hard, but I also hate making and washing bottles. I'm sure it'll always be something now that this little person comes first but thats ok :)

In other news both Jeff and I have the new Iphone. This should hopefully help me since I now fit into that category of who I considered crazy people who had to be able to be reached at all possible times. For example, yesterday (when I didn't have my new Iphone) I left my phone in the car and went into the gym. Jeff was going to pick up Allison from daycare. I get out to the car and there is a message that he's changing a flat tire. he was still able to get her in time (before the late fees started) but that wont have to happen again since I'll be using my phone as an mp3 player from now on :) It's still going to be a while before it's a habit to always have the phone on me - in meetings or in earshot in the car or a store but I'll get there.

I forgot to mention how talkative Allison is lately. Last weekend we tried hard to get her to say dada for fathers day but it hasn't happened yet. I'll record some of her babbles and then play with the Iphone this weekend and see just how easy it is to load videos to Utube.

It's almost time for me to walk out in the is smoldering 98 degrees to go home. Whatever happened to the nice but hot 85 degree weather?

We had a busy but fun weekend. Saturday afternoon I had a stampin up thing where I made some greeting cards. I'm not usually into that kind of thing but I learned that this lady has classes where you just pay one fee and she has all the materials and you spend half a day for a project such as Christmas cards. So I may consider a few of those a year instead of spending money to own all the materials. I know I would never spend that time in my own house doing it.
Saturday night some friends had a bbq that Jeff and Allison went to. She ofcourse saved her blowout for an outing. I came after the stampin thing but it was 8pm and I was pretty wiped out, so I didn't stay long.

Sunday we went to Sears for some photos. I've been looking up some photographers that specialize in babies but the prices are crazy and they ofcourse won't sell you the digital images. So I figured since she's still working on the head control and not exactly smiling on cue, we'd try sears. It wasn't a great experience - hot room, busy place with just one person working, hardly any props, and we just seemed rush. Allison was pretty good, but I still stressed out. So for all that work and $150 we only got 14 images. I think I'll just be shelling out the money for her 6 months pics and try a photography studio.

For Fathers Day I got Jeff lawn service for a month. Came at a good time since we've been in the 90s for a while now. The Friday before Fathers Day, Allison came home with her first piece of art. It was her footprints with a poem for fathers day. I laughed at how they start so early. I bought some posterboard to fold over and create a big folder for all her art projects to save. My mom saved mine from elementary school and it was kinda neat to look back on. If anyone has suggestions for how or what to store that kind of stuff in, I'd like some ideas.

and she made it till 4:50 before waking me. Yippee! I got her home about 4:15, she ate at 5pm slept, woke up to let us know about a dirty diaper and slept again. woke up about 7:30 and we had about 30 minutes of play time in before she ate again and slept from 8:20 to 4:50. I hope this isn't fluke thing.

On other news my dad is in the hospital with a blood clot in his leg. Sounds kinda scary but I was told I didn't need to fly down there right now. I hope the doctors in that small town know what they are doing and can dissolve it.

Allison is 3 months old today and life is definitely different than it was when she was 1 month old. We've got the beginning of a routine started. I get up a little before 6am and shower first while Jeff wakes her up enough to eat. Then I throw on my robe, pull back wet hair and feed her while Jeff showers. Then he'll take her to daycare about 7am while I finish getting ready for work. I'm still able to get to work about 7:45 or 8am most days. So far I haven't taken a full lunch break so I try to leave a little after 4 to pick her up. They feed her 3 bottles in dc but she must know I have more food b/c she's usually screaming in the car and in the house till she eats. some days she's still a little fussy in the evenings, but it's not too bad. Allison typically sleeps from 8 am to 3 am and then I feed her. She usually falls back asleep -me, not so much. I lay there hungry! If I do eat something before going back to bed it wakes me up more. I'm open to ideas on how to resolve that :) There is a downside to her sleeping through most of the night. My period started. I feel like calling my doctor and saying YOU LIED.

I'm still breastfeeding and pumping at work. Thank goodness I have an office to myself right now, so I just shut the door and close the blinds. The hardest part is trying to time my day around pumping. I have to attend a few meetings a week and sometimes they are in other buildings. I also signed up for an all day photoshop training seminar in Nashville and I'm thinking it's going to suck trying to find a place to pump in that convention center or go out to a hot car in June. This is starting to take some serious dedication. But I really wanted to keep bf'ing for the first part of her transition into daycare.

(now this is written on Sunday night)
Jeff's parents came up Friday night so we could go to a friends wedding. We we all surprised at how much Allison slept this weekend. I think the full week in daycare really wiped her out. One time this morning, I put Allison in the bouncy seat and she was out asleep in minutes and her Mimi (grandma) was sitting next to her just staring with this disappointed look on her face, so sad she was back asleep and not playful. I was just happy she was still a happy calm baby all weekend.

Here's a pic of bathtime Friday night. She looks like she's in distress, but she' pretty good for baths :)

So I've gotten some response back on that last blog entry - very nice and supportive words. One of the reasons I felt I had to get those words out is b/c everything you see on tv or in advertising just paints a perfect picture of life with new baby where mom has this pre-planted supercharged bond that keeps a happy loving smile on her face nonstop. Those advertisements need to come with subtext that says the baby is 3 or 6 months old and mom has finally slept 7 hours in a row.
Now that more of the 'life is really good' feelings are occurring on a daily basis I'm forgetting the bad and hard stuff. My memory already sucks, so I wanted to make sure I had something to remind me of the real truth :)

while reading this keep in mind it's coming from the mouth of a woman that hasn't been around babies much in her life....

I brought home a tiny baby from the hospital (never thought I'd have a baby that small). Even a couple days in the hospital it really didn't sink in what we produced. I wasn't one of those moms that formed an attachment right away, but there was a point when I got back from the hospital nursery I realized I had missed her. She looked so small and fragile, the thought of caring for her was a little frightening. Luckily I remembered my sister's words - you can't hurt them unless you drop them :) Those words ran through my head every time I had to get clothes on her and contort her arms to move in ways I didn't think they should. The first couple weeks went by in a sleepless, painful blur of mostly crying fits while breastfeeding. After a couple weeks all the family left, Jeff was at work, friends weren't visiting too often and it was just me and her, and she was still just eating and sleeping. It began to hit me - what am I supposed to do with her all day?! We weren't on a schedule by any means and the thought of taking her out in public and her screaming was very intimidating. How could I be completely intimidated by something that weighed 7 pounds! So my only ventures out were to the grocery store or Target.
A couple days before she turned 4 weeks old, we gave her a bottle. Yes - we did not have any problems there. I thought this meant freedom for me to use both bottle and breast. Nope, I found out what engorgement was. I didn't see the point of having Jeff get up in the middle of the night if I was just going to have to get up to use the breast pump. Several nights when she was eating every 2 hours, he'd give her the first bottle, but then I'd be up at 2 and 4 am at least. I don't think we took her out to eat with us though till she was maybe 8 weeks old. (yeah for quick mexican restaurants). I'd say I didn't feel like I could recognize any kind of schedule with her till she was at least 7 weeks old. that meant for long boring frustrating days at home.
I think mother nature timed things out right, because about the point where she was taking longer naps during the day and night, allowing me to get sleep and not be as cranky, is when Allison also started smiling at as and making a few cute baby sounds. So I think sleep plus smiles are what really sealed the bond between us. Some delay there could have also been my emotional rollercoaster on a daily basis. I probably just made myself out to sound like a horrible mom for admitting that connection took weeks for me to feel but it makes a difference when that little person can respond back to you in a pleasant way. Now I look forward to the time I get to feed her because I have her all to myself.
I knew the first time baby process was going to be hard, but yeah, you don't really know till it happens. Allison is such a good baby, we really did luck out. I would have had a institutional-worthy breakdown if she was colicky or unhealthy. Then again I never thought I'd survive natural childbirth and I did.

trying to steal a few minutes on a lunch break to blog...

Daycare said Allison did great and was a happy baby. They got her to eat every 3-3.5 hours which is nice. She fell asleep in the car seat on the way home and when she woke up at home she went into full scream mode. I have no idea why, maybe she likes daycare better, maybe she already forgot who I was, who knows. I had to feed her to calm down though, and then she stayed a bit fussy for a while. She's staying alert longer though. Since my back is still bothering me, I can't walk her around too long, so we sat her in the bumbo seat in her crib and turned on her mobile and other rainforest musical and she seemed perfectly content to look at those 2 back and forth.
My only guess on the back thing is that its a breastfeeding issue. I weigh alot less than when I was pregnant and my back didn't hurt this bad. So maybe it's my huge boobs or me just looking down at them while keeping her on. It's becoming a problem though when I get home and don't have time to lay down in between all the bottle washing and playing with Allison.
The last few nights she's only eaten about 3 am. That's nice for me except I need to find a way to fall back asleep faster. At least she's a happy baby in the morning. She really does smile and coo alot, which is good to lesson my crankiness. haha.

back to cleaning out hundreds of work emails after being gone so long...

For Memorial day weekend, we had a bunch of Jeff's family visit. His cousin's husband had some business in Alabama and then they were headed to the beach. Jennifer's bunch included a husband, 2 year old and a 9 month old and her parents. Jeff's parents and aunt and uncle stayed here and then the cousin stayed in a hotel since she's allergic to cats. Jeff's parents brought some steaks to grill out, so we had a nice feast. The weather didn't quite cooperate - rain off and on, but it's been that way all month. I got to see what life is like with a 2 year old, and if Allison is as good as Hailey I think I can handle it.
Jeff's dad has taken some photography classes and loves to practice on Allison, so we get nice photos when they're here. I think I may have to teach him a little about composition though (photoshop can only do so much)

Allison has had a few nights of sleeping 6 hours in a row but it still seems to be sporadic. Usually though when I come in her room in the morning she looks up at me with a calm smile :) She's definitely a happy baby in the morning. Afternoons are a toss up for whether she'll be fussy or not. She's got more head/neck control now, but still has a good bobble head that will head butt your chin pretty hard. she does require more play time, but hasn't realize her hands will help out with that playing. oh, a few people have asked about hair color - so far it's coming in light brown and in the sun there is a hint of red/auburn color.

This was supposed to be her week in daycare and my week off, but there was some mis-communication. Evidently they prefer you to transition your infant for 3 - 2 hour days. I also did not have her blue vaccine card which takes the dr office a day or 2 to get. I didn't want to pay the full daycare price for 2.5 days so I've been home with her. So much for my pedicure and car wash and other fun errands. And since I've only left her there for 2 hours I haven't had the meltdown I hear so many first time moms have. We'll see about Monday.

My crying spells have greatly reduced, so I hope my hormones are normalizing out. Though I've heard that doesn't happen till after you stop breastfeeding. I'm not liking the hair loss that has started. I've seen this with other friends and heard it's normal. I am relieved to say that most of my summer wardrobe for work fits. Luckily I wear mostly skirts, which is good since the pants button but don't look flattering. It made me remember a college friend explaining what panty craters are. lol. I'd rather not be one of 'those women' who wear pants too tight and have 4 butt cheeks. I still have about 10 pounds to get back to pre-pregnancy weight. Another reason I love being tall, 10 pounds won't necessarily increase a dress size.

So in summary, life is still good, no routine yet but hope that daycare will fix that. I'm about to see the ways of juggling work and mommyhood. My biggest blessing in that is that I have an easy baby and a helpful husband. And maybe when the hard challenging part of toddlerhood starts we'll have her grandparents much closer to help.

Yesterday Allison rolled over from her tummy to her back. I was worried that I wasn't giving her enough tummy time but I guess she progressed quickly. Last night Jeff woke her up from her car seat which was a huge mistake. She cried for 15 minutes or so. It wasn't the pain scream we heard on the day of shots; to me it seemed more like a scared dream. I wonder if she was dreaming and woke up stuck in it :) We turned on the vacuum cleaner which calmed her down finally. I feel pretty lucky to have not had many of those. Almost always her cries can be fixed with food or a diaper.

This weekend we have some family coming; Jeff's parents, aunt, uncle, and a cousin and her family. I have my fingers crossed for nice weather.

This is my last full week at home with Allison. She'll go to daycare next week and then I go back to work the next.

Well, I'd rather work on photos than blog, so back to it.

This is her new mobile she loves.

She weighed in at 10 lbs 9 oz today, but we're not sure how accurate that is considering she hasn't pooped in 3 and half days. (I had to laugh thinking my sister and a friend have popped out 10lb babies at birth) She ranked right at 50% percentile on her growth charts. She also got her first shots which made her scream but not for too long.

Yesterday I went to the botanical gardens with Stacy. I didn't know about their new childrens section - it was awesome. They butterfly area is now a huge inside building that looks like a mini rainforest. I've been in bigger and better, but hey, for huntsville this was a definite improvement. Yesterday was the first nice sunny day we've had in a while, so it was packed with moms and strollers.

In an attempt to get more efficient, and since I don't blog much anymore, here are some quick notes of whats been going on...

Tornado sirens again! I think we've had 5 in 4 weeks. Makes it hard to crouch down in the closet with a pillow for protection, but this last one did hit close to home. Speaking of - that may have been the first time I saw middle class white people with all their teeth interviewed for the news.

Rain again! Everything is very green around here.

Happy baby starting to come out. Allison is smiling more. It really makes this whole baby thing easier when you have a cute face smiling back at you. I have a friend that had a baby a few days ago, and I do remember the crazy hormones, both of us crying, sleep deprivation, etc, but it's fading everything she smiles back at me. That smile has actually caused me to cry so I guess the hormones haven't quite gone back to normal :)

My inlaws are already planning their move here. It maybe as early as next year. Our big ground rule was not in a 5 mile radius. Seriously though, they are wonderful grandparents so I'm excited.

My latest addiction is the show Las Vegas. Yes it's an old one, but daytime tv sucks, so I'm thankful for TNT. Hey, it's not as bad as an addition to Days of Lives.

I've never done as much laundry as I have been. At about 6 weeks I packed up the preemie and newborn outfits. We'll find out how much she weighs on Wednesday. We're still not sure of a hair color. The most hair she has is a dark brown ring towards the neck - like her daddy.

I miss surfing the internet. Now it seems I respond to an email or two, check facebook and someone starts crying. For instance, I started this 6 hours ago.

I feel a little guilty for not blogging lately but I'm about to feel stupid for some rambling, but here's what's been happening.
Taking care of a baby this age is not really hard, just time consuming. I feel guilty for letting her cry, so there is usually something to do every hour, feed, change, talk to, whatever. She's still a sleepy baby overall and most cries can be fixed with something. Though, late in the afternoon is when she gets fussy - about the time Jeff gets home. Then he gets to hear all the farts she's been building up all day - how appropriate - they get to fart together :)

Life at home is boring. I wish I had more friends that were available during the day. oh well, just more time for bonding with her. She's getting heavier and cuter every day. I still can't tell what her hair is going to do, stay dark or fall out and grow back light. At least her eyelashes are growing. She's smiling more, which I love, though I think it's just her using new facial muscles.

I think I'll try to focus the rest of my time off with establishing a routine. It's still difficult right now since I just feed her on demand. And if I have a rough night with her and she goes for another nap at 9 am, than it's really tempting to take a nap too. I noticed I feel better when I exercise in the morning, so I'm trying to use the Wii Fit more. I've sat Allison in front of the noisy treadmill a few times with mixed results on her reaction. I've taken the stroller out around the neighborhood, but I really need to order a handle bar extender because I can't walk to fast without kicking it. (Damn products made for short people)

I haven't been out that much just because I don't want to breastfeed in public. We did go to Panoply this weekend (Huntsville's big art fest). We got there early before it got too hot. I like checking out the art market. I did buy my first piece of art glass. I've always loved art glass but never had the money to become a collector, so I'm starting small. This artist's collection was inspired by Utah's Arches National Park. We haven't been there, but we did have the anniversary trip to Zion Utah, so it made me love the bowl even more.

Now if the weather will cooperate I'll call up Stacy for a trip the Botanical gardens and some cute photos.

So it only took 6 weeks, but all the baby announcements are finally mailed :)

Yesterday I took her by my work to show her off. So many people just love babies, even people I didnt know at work wanted to hold her. I find this odd. I love my child and I definitely think my nephews and niece are cuter that most kids, but strangers kids are just strangers kids. I can never see me going gaga over just any baby. But either way, people are friendlier to you when you are holding a baby so that's cool.
I'm still getting in the groove of this mom thing. At home life is pretty boring, just eating, sleeping and changing diapers. Allison is still usually a lazy eater. Meaning she'll eat, fall asleep and if I dont wake her up to eat more, she'll eat every hour. My nipples can't handle that. I'm still open to suggestions on how to keep her awake while eating. She's definitely packing on some weight though. She has a cute budda belly and some new wrinkle folds. She's a little more alert at looking at stuff but not quite grabbing it, or grabbing things with intention. Oh, and she's definitely spoiled by being held alot. I'm not ready to hear her scream too long. Speaking of, someone is waking up.

Allison is becoming more alert, following toys and grabbing things, sometimes. But overall its still basic baby stuff. Jeff usually gives her a bottle of formula sometime in the night, so I can sleep for 3 or 4 hours in a row. Well I don't think I've slept 4 hours in a row since she's still noisy.
Some of Jeff's coworkers wives with kids got together in the park next to his office and I met them. (thanks to facebook for catching that). It was a gorgeous day and definitely nice to get out. I also had to call a friend for a drink. The drink wasn't needed as much as girl friend company. Staying at home this long can take away some sanity but I got some of it back. I wish I had more close friends with lil kids - still have 6 weeks off work.
I have my fingers crossed that last week was the last cold week for a while (seems like I've said this before). I can't believe I'm still having to run the heater in April!

Thursday Allison turned 4 weeks old. Not much has changed. She is getting stronger but still has a bobble head. She still grunts loud for unknown reasons but we suspect to push out gas or more. I've nicknamed her little squirt, because a fart usually comes with a little squirt. So far she's still a sleepy and pretty even tempered baby that is not too fussy too often. (I hope I don't have to eat those words soon ) I have a harder time calming her down than Jeff, but I think she mainly associates me with food.
Jeff gave her the first bottle a few nights ago and so far no problems. So now he can give her one in the middle of the night and we can each get at least 4 hours sleep in a row.

Here is a pic of me in my usual position on the couch after feeding her - surrounded by burp cloths and pillows. The spit up levels are increasing and bibs help for some of that. Just last night when I moved her a huge amount of white liquid came POURING out of both nostrils and mouth. I had a quick vision of some sick prank a kid would do with a doll to freak out a little girl. I'm doing more laundry that I ever have because I really don't like that sour milk smell that reeks from the burp cloths or her first outfit of the day.

This is my favorite thing she does. All of a sudden she'll just raise her hand and arm straight up in the air.

The first 3 weeks have flown by like I thought they would. My arms will tell you that Allison is definitely growing. She's also a very noisey baby, grunts snorts, makes a high pitch sound like a car coming to screeching halt and she does these throughout her sleep. So the first 2 weeks we had the bassinette in our room, now it's in the living room just outside our bedroom. Jeff is sleeping better than ever now where I'm still getting up to nurse her every 2-3 hours usually. Breastfeeding did get easier after the 2 week mark. It still hurts initially and then I guess she relaxes and it's better. I have not made it out of the house much because I never know if she's going to eat 3 times in an hour or wait and sleep for 2 hours in between feedings. I'm not ready to be one of those moms that can nurse in public with just a blanket draped over them. And the thought of sitting in a public restroom for 20 to 40 minutes while she eats is not much better. So I think the bottle will get introduced soon.
I'm about to take her to the dr again for her 3rd PKU test. Everyone has said how picky the lab is and yet they still can't get the sample right, it's making me mad.
Jeff's parents are coming back tomorrow, evidently Mimi (Jeff's mom) couldn't wait a whole month to see her :)
I'm still waiting to hear back from a photographer friend to get some good photos to use on a birth announcement.

Our baby girl decided to come a little early. The due date was March 18, but Allison Milena Machamer arrived on March 12 at 2:27, just an hour and half after arriving to the hospital.

Here is the new happy family.

I started the baby blog mostly for my pregnancy. I think I'm going to phase it out and just use this one from now on. And I'm already predicting not as much time to write.

I previously had themachamers.com on our mediacom server, but since it was such a pain to update, I decided to just use my blogger account for the website. I think I update the baby blog more frequently anyway, but I like to keep this one going for a log of all our trips and photos.

Highlights:
3 Trips to Texas
Cruise to Cozumel (with 15 friends)
Work trip to Albuquerque, NM
Beale St Music Festival
Conference Trip to Chicago
Alaskan Cruise with the family
California for a friends wedding
Kayaking and camping
3rd anniversary trip to the Biltmore
Thanksgiving in Florida
Turned 7 months pregnant on Christmas

We had a nice quiet Christmas this year broken up with a few bits of noisiness that I was thankful for. Heather and Chad invited us to their family Christmas Eve gathering that included a big loud family, lots of kids and a dirty santa game that involved alot of shots. (I think I would have been more homesick without being a part of a big family - so thanks!) Very fun night till about 11pm when I was trying to sleep and realized I ate to much and my stomach did not have room for it. Christmas day was back to quiet with just Jeff and I. We got to eat a Honey Baked Ham turkey dinner my dad sent. (yeah, no cooking). I was a bit sad not to see any of my family for Christmas, but so it goes. I guess next year we'll figure out what traveling with a baby is really like.
Friday morning I headed out to Penney's and the mega sale. I finally got some towels and guest sheets. I even picked up a couple baby girl dresses. Then I went to Pier 1 and got wrapping paper for next year.

Friday afternoon, we drove to Bham to see Jeff's family. We exchanged gifts, and I was excited about the gifts I got (impressed since I didn't really help people for ideas). Then Jeff's parents treated us by going out for an Italian dinner. Very good food, though I missed out on the wine and a couple good appetizers that were not pregnancy friendly. I think I've determined everyplace in Bham is small, crowded and loud, but it was a change from Hsv that is full of mostly chain restaurants. The next morning we had bagels from Panera - again no cooking :)
Saturday we headed back home, so I could meet up with some friends from highschool - a range of people were meeting at Monaco. I kind of forced myself to go since I was not really in a mood to converse with people I only see every few years or not even in 14 years. But I was glad to catch up with a couple people. (hopefully I didn't come across as a snob, but I'm not the best at putting on a false smile) And while they were all drinking I got a big fat ice cream cone (luckily it was a warm night).

I am wondering now if Jeff will go into gadget withdrawal. In the last week or so we've acquired several new gadgets and things he's had to put together or figure out: Garmin GPS (company present), HD video camera, PC tablet (for me), smoker/grill (from his parents), garage code key for door, new computer ram, and something else I'm not remembering now.

Hope everyone had a great holiday.

This past weekend we had Jeff's company Christmas party. He got a new Garmin GPS and I won the door prize - the flowers :)

We also played with the new video camera. I have alot of learning to do. I will say that I love being married to a smart geek that loves new technology. He picks stuff up faster than me, including the editing software. I started trying to film the nursery, but static rooms just aren't exciting. Maybe we'll take it to a party Wednesday or New Years for some action shots.

Last night we got our video camera in so Jeff has a new gadget to play with. I was going to hold off till after the baby came, but I figured now may be best when I may actually have time to learn how to use it and the editing software. I'm open to ideas if anyone has anything that we can go shoot this weekend. (At a minimum I may have to buy some catnip for the kitties and see what happens in our house.) I'm hoping I figure out how to add songs and music over it too. I'm not about to take it to an Adobe Premier level like some friends, but I'd like to know some cool editing stuff. And for those interested we got a Canon Vixia that records in HD.

Yesterday was a little news worthy with the weather. It snowed 4" on the Vegas strip. And North Alabama is finally out of the drought. It does seem like years since we've had so much continuous rain and I'm sick of it. Rain can just bring down your mood. I was thankful to have some girlfriends over last night for a wrapping party to help alleviate some of my gloomy mood from the constant mist. We just sprawled out on the floor and wrapped our own gifts and shared paper. Angie was thankful for the help and I think Heather was glad to have another person writing name tags 'from Santa' since her kids know her handwriting. Yes I took a mental note for future years :)

Now we have Jeff's Christmas party this weekend and then it'll be a slow week at work before Christmas.

I wish I had found this a few weeks ago before all the dirty santa gift exchanges. These soy candles are supposedly better for the environment and air quality than paraffin wax. Scent of a Scandal - has very creative names like: ‘Me So Thorny’, ‘Santa’s Pole’, ‘Hanukkah Bush’, 'Ho Ho Homo' and ‘Challahback Girl’.

Found this cool website:
http://howmanyofme.com/.
There used to be 69 people with my name (maiden name) but now there is only one me in the US. yeah for unique last names :)

Story background:
I work in an old building for a very safety conscious gov't agency. An average of about 4 times a month they will have an asbestos outage at 6pm where no on is allowed in the building till the next morning. (they're doing work in the walls or ceiling and may release some asbestos)
There has been an on-going saga with the ladies bathroom on my floor for about a year. When they couldn't fix the clogged sink, they removed it, busted the tile, and then duck-taped cardboard over the gaping 3 foot+ hole. I've heard the old 50's blue tile is on order - for at least 6 months now. The other day I was fed up with seeing the gross pipes behind the wall, revealed by the loosening duck-tape. I decided to send an email to a new person stressing my concerns of being pregnant and asbestos. Well there were 4 guys working on it this morning. Guess a pregnant lady has more of a voice than the long time employee that has been working the issue for a year. Now I'm still concerned that I've been exposed to some dangerous stuff for so long.

I came across an article that mentioned a few free money tracking/budgeting websites. I decided to try one out (Expensr), so in my down time at work yesterday I went through last months credit card and debit card transactions and put them in (gotta love online banking - have everything at your fingertips). I hope I can keep up with putting in my purchases everyday b/c it is pretty cool to see where the money goes. You also put in your deposits, so it shows you a green or red balance number, then you can break it into categories that shows you a pie chart of where you're spending the most money. So far I'm doing good with a green balance and the biggest chunks going to food, bills and savings. I even got Jeff to start it last night. Again we'll see how long we stay motivated to keep inputting the numbers :)

I saw snow for a few minutes today, but the white ground didn't stay more than another 5 minutes. oh well. It was a bit of a shock after wearing flip flops on the beach all weekend. I do love the beach, but it's not quite as much fun when it's too cold and/or rainy to get in the water. Still, it was a fun family weekend.

I ordered my Christmas cards tonight but I may have accidentally checked for slow shipping, so I'll be sending those out the week before :)

I saw a friend wearing a shirt the other weekend that said save the ta ta's. I just thought it was a funny shirt. then today I saw a network with that name on a friend's facebook page. Save the ta ta's is promoting breast cancer awareness and donates to the cause. Kinda cool with a catchy name. check it out: www.savethetatas.com

My view of the bright orange leaves is diminishing. Twice today we had a gust of wind that blew the leaves upward and in a circle - it was an amazing, beautiful site!

Saturday night we went to the UAH hockey game against Bemidji. They started a new tradition - to introduce the parents that traveled to see their kids play (most of our players are from up north and Canada). All the parents were sitting in 2 sections of the box seats and they did make it to Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn who stood up and waved (Wyatt Russell is our goalie). I've heard they try to be normal parents and attend all their kids functions - pretty cool. We were sitting across the ice from them and I saw at least 3 people with digital cameras with bit zoom lenses taking photos of them :) After the game I called my father-in-law and got to mess with him - he loves Goldie. I think they'll be coming again this year for a hockey game :)

Wow, haven't written on here in a long time.

We went to the Biltmore in Asheville, NC for our 3rd anniversary. Had a great trip and gorgeous weather including seeing the fall foliage, which we took the long way back so we could drive part of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Obama was elected president with about 52% of the popular vote. I think it's great but a few friends think it's the beginning of the end for this country. I teased them that they sounded more emotional that me -a pregnant woman :)
Now stories are coming out about how horrible Sarah Palin is, throwing temper tantrums, calling Africa a country, etc. I think it's funny. I agree with so many others that if McCain really wanted to win he (an old man) would have picked someone with more experience to be his second in command. I won't complain anymore, just hope Obama is full of the greatness we believe and can change the minds of the other voters.

Everyday life is still the same. So far having a healthy, non-eventful pregnancy which is good. Work is the same. Though the view outside my window is absolutely beautiful. Whatever kind of tree is just inches from my window now has bright orange/red leaves, and I can see all the fall colors in the hill in the distance. Even with fog and rain, it's still pretty today. My officemate is weeks away from getting moved to a cube-farm, so I keep teasing him to enjoy the view.

Holiday planning has begun with my sister-in-law. So nice to have another female in the family to help out with that sort of thing (and other things that don't occur to the men). I've got alot of Christmas shopping done - yeah - I hate the crowds and I refuse to go to the mall after dark, which is now very early.

This is a snippet of conversation I heard from a group of ladies walking to the next building:

"She said she was channeled and that the aliens are coming on Oct 14 and will be hovering over Alabama..."

Then it trailed off and I was too far to hear. I was tempted to follow them - I mean, I did hear it at NASA, so she could it be a legit source, right? haha :)
I then had a huge smile on my face for the next few minutes and passed a few people that gave me strange looks. Though they smiled back - ah the pleasantries of living in the south.

The latest McCain ad using the Ayers controversy pisses me off. They are saying Obama's character is corrupt because of something someone did when Obama was a kid. Here's the timeline:

* Bill Ayers - active in the 60s and 70s with the weatherman group and tied to some bombings - did some damage, but no injuries and he was never convicted (Obama was a kid then).
* Bill had kids in 77 and 80. Then he got involved with education. (I'm guessing grew up and is becoming a responsible adult)
* Ayers and Obama were on the same board for an anti-poverty foundation in the late 90s and lived in the same neighborhood.
* sometime in there Ayers contributed a whooping $200 to Obama's campaign.
* Currently Ayers is a distinguished professor at U of Illinois-Chicago.

In February 2008 (when Hilary brought up the issue), Obama spokesman Bill Burton released a statement from the senator about the relationship between the two: "Senator Obama strongly condemns the violent actions of the Weathermen group, as he does all acts of violence. But he was an eight-year-old child when Ayers and the Weathermen were active, and any attempt to connect Obama with events of almost forty years ago is ridiculous." More on wikipedia

Wow, just checked my 401K balance and it's down $14k for the year. And I know my balance is small compared to people close to retirement. I'd be freakin out if I was about 50+ years old right now. I keep hearing it's great for me (and other relatively young people), it's like the market is having a big sale, but it doesn't really help calm fears.
I found this comic yesterday - Damn it feels good to be a banksta. I immediately thought of the movie Office Space where the white guy is sitting in traffic in his beige Corolla with the song 'Damn it feels good to be a Gangsta' just blaring loud. So anyway, I found this comic hilarious. Thinking of the song also brought back a memory of driving through Nashville with some guy friends (white) while they too blared some gansta rap music with the windows down. I felt a bit silly but was laughing most of the time.

My friend Jon got married, so Jeff and I went to Austin for his wedding. We got there early on Friday and since it was so hot (about 92) we didn't walk around as much as I'd like, but we did take the Austin Overatures tour - a van ride for 90 minutes. I liked our guide (kinda reminded me of my friend Liz) and I saw more of the city that I ever had. The Austin City Limits Music Fest was that weekend, and we had to deal with some traffic, so after our tour, we tried to avoid downtown. I still love Austin and it is on a top place of mine to live one day, but I think I'm becoming more of a wuss to the heat. Or maybe I can blame the lack of tolerance on my pregnancy ? :) Jon didn't have people over to his house till 7pm Friday, so we still had a few hours to kill. Near our hotel was a place called Central market. A gourmet grocery store. Man, I wish we had one here. They had an olive bar that was at least 18 feet long, a salsa/dips bar, an entire aisle of cheeses, and then half an aisle for already prepared food ready to take home. The rehearsal dinner was a small gathering of friends and family, so that was nice.

Saturday morning we met my long time friend Maya for brunch. It's been about 7 years since I last saw her and another 7 or so before that (we grew up together). We had fun catching up then went to check out the huge costume store nearby on Congress St. I was about to take a photo, but Jeff stopped me and pointed to a sign prohibiting it - too bad. that place was huge and had thousands of costumes. We parted ways with Maya and her boyfriend, and Jeff and I continued to stroll the funky shops. It was hot again, so you had to keep going in shops for the A/C. We bought our first baby clothing purchase. They had several cute ones to choose from, but this one made me laugh most.

We made our way to the wedding location, a simple but pretty park in Austin. I think their wedding was as short as ours, and they were also married by a lady. They had a mariachi band for entertainment and Schlotsky's afterward. We were on the road headed to my dads about 4pm. The family visit was pretty uneventful and relaxing. I brought home a few more things of my grandma's including my dad's baby quilt she made, so that is neat.

Oh, I do hope that is my last plane ride till after the kid is born. I couldn't take cold medicine to help open my ears, so the plane descent was more painful that I remember before. Though, I found out Tuesday is a good day to fly - neither plane was full.
(pictures to be posted on picasa tonight)

Fast way to kill your day at work:
have a co-worker tell you she's about to go to New Zealand on an active vacation. The website: www.activenewzealand.com - has some amazing photo galleries. Especially the photo for kayaking Milford Sound. I want to go now! oh wait, I have baby duties coming up. I can still dream for one day :)

I got an email from a friend with a wonderful idea - donate to Planned Parenthood in the name of Sarah Palin. They send her a thank you card :) So I just did. I think it's a great organization. Here's the email:
Make a donation to Planned Parenthood. Of any amount, in Sarah Palin's name. Here's the best part: when you make a donation to PP in her name, they'll send her a card telling her that the donation has been made in her honor. It won't change the election but it will support an important organization and it will make women's voices heard. (And even if this was cooked up by a PP person -- I don't care!)

Here's the link to the Planned Parenthood website

You'll need to check "make honorary or memorial gift," and fill in the name of the person you want to "honor," i.e. Palin. Fill in the address to let PP know where to send the "in Sarah Palin's honor" card. If you use the address for the McCain campaign headquarters, they'll get the message.
McCain's headquarters address:
McCain for President
1235 S. Clark Street
1st Floor
Arlington, VA 22202

I heard from my parents last night that my brother stayed in his bay house a couple nights ago. There was some water inside but no major floor cave ins or cracks that he found so far. My dad was worried about the structure holding up, but they are more worried about looters. So sad - it's their own neighbors that do some of the looting. So they are staying there with a generator. Their neighbor that had a one-story house on a slab only had 2 interior walls/rooms remaining. When they went over to talk to him, he said you could see the water line - at the very top of the wall, so the waves just lifted the roof right off. And then they talked to the cops with dogs - cadaver dogs, and yes they had found 2 bodies somewhere in the vicinity. Kinda spooky.

So I've been hearing talk of trying to subpoena to get emails on personal email accounts from Palin and her husband. I was not sure what all that was about. I found some clarification in this article. Seems Palin had her husband around the office all the time even included him in meetings. Soon people were cc'ing him on emails for official city/state business. I wonder, he has his own job and 5 kids - didnt he have enough other stuff to tend to?! Will this be allowed in Washington?

Another article with some interesting quotes from others that know Palin.

"She looked in my eyes and said, 'Yes, I think I will see Jesus come back to earth in my lifetime.'"

"The real disturbing thing about Sarah is her mind-set. It's her underlying belief system that will influence how she responds in an international crisis, if she's ever in that position, and has the full might of the U.S. military in her hands. She gave some indication of that thinking in her ABC interview, when she suggested how willing she would be to go to war with Russia."

Howard Bess (a Baptist pastor) adds, "this person's election would be a disaster for the country and the world."

Sarah Palin stated in the ABC news interview her biggest credential is her work in energy. "...this state that produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy."
That is wrong. Alaska produces 14% of oil for US, but she said "energy" not "oil". Alaska produced 3.5 percent of the country's domestic energy production. Big difference! More on factcheck.org.

Texas family update: One brother's house fared good with minor damages. The other brother with a house on the bay has not been inside yet, but a friend said the main house is still standing (on the stilts - is that what it's called?). The one-story half house is gone, and ofcourse their pier and new boathouse are gone. Both of his neighbors on either side had one story houses on the ground and they are gone. The yard is gone and water is now almost up to the pilings. Maybe I'll know more tomorrow. So glad they evacuated. So sad for all the work and clean up that is ahead of them.

I made Jeff suffer thru a hour or so of hurricane Ike coverage this morning. He's not as interested in it as me, but he didnt grow up there either, with relatives that had to evacuate houses on the bay. The local news site has started posting viewers photos - beautiful skies as the storm was coming in: www.click2houston.com/slideshow/news/17453226/detail.html. I'm still anxious to see more, just waiting on the reporters to get out more.
I read where the Kemah Boardwalk and several surrounding million dollars homes are submerged. I'm glad I got to see it just a few months ago.

I saw an interesting news headline that McCain voted against a law requiring free rape exams. This ofcourse peaked my interest since I'm pro-choice and he's not, so how could he also do this. Sometimes the readers comments have more information than the actual article. I love that other people do the research for me. I knew that pieces of legislation are huge and packed with several sections, but I had no idea they were this big! This H.R.3355 is over 300 pages. I did skim through it, and to me it look like there was alot of good stuff in here, community grants, gun safety for youth, some prison stuff, etc. I dont think I could be a law maker though and have to keep up with several of these going up for vote. Anyway, it did pass, you can see who voted here (Biden voted yea, McCain nay).

I did watch the ABCnews Palin interview last night. I was not impressed. She sounded rehearsed, so much so she repeated herself and couldn't come up with a new answer, several times making me feel like I was lost in a sea of words. And the clips of her speaking in a church, saying OUR soldiers were on a task from God scared the crap out of me. Let the people in the middle east fight a holy war, not us!

Looks like several of my relatives will get a direct hit from hurricane Ike. I really hope my brother's bay house holds up. I saw that they started mandatory evacuations in Houston. I hope they do a better job with the roads and evacuation routes than they did with Rita. What would normally take 3 hours to get to my parents took them 12 hours. Guess I'll call later and see how much company my parents will have.
I was looking up Houston news, and they have a huge list of traffic cameras set up everywhere. It's interesting to see the roads already filling up.

I'm still baffled by how many people are talking about Sarah Palin, and talking like they'd vote for McCain just because of her. In my opinion she has barely any experience and was only chosen to fill a demographic to get Hillary supporters away from Obama. I decided to write down a few things that are big on my list for voting this election.

Obama(Columbia Univ, Harvard Law- top of class)
- 47 years old
- would increase taxes for extremely wealthy (unlike McCain)
- does not take contributions from lobbyists
- opposed the Iraq war since 2002
- called to repeal the Patriot Act
- excellent ideas for education reform
- 10+ years Senate experience

Biden (Univ of Delaware 506th of 688, Syracuse Univ College of Law 76 of 85)
- 30+ years Senate experience (plenty of info available)

McCain (US Naval academy, 894 of 899 - come on -even Bush went to Yale)
- 72 years old
- crashed 5 navy aircraft
- POW, returned home to former model wife now 5" shorter and with her own injuries, so he cheated on her w/in a year, and later marrying someone 18 years younger than him
- admits not knowing how to use a computer
- said on camera he does not know how many houses he owns
- 20+ years Senate experience, 5 in House of Rep
- voted to extend the wiretap provision in the Patriot Act (which is totally against everything the constitution stands for)
- uses talk of terrorism to keep this country scared and voting republican.

Sarah Palin (5 colleges, finally graduating from Univ of Idaho in journalism)
- PTA to town council to mayor of town of 7,000 to governor for less than 2 years.
- when will she finally do a real interview and answer hard questions?!
- yes she seems real and can speak eloquently, but do we want a hockey mom for #2 in line ?! Several people have said how they like that she's just like anyone else. That's great for a city mayor, but the US is a major player in world politics - I want someone more prepared to handle it, someone that is highly educated and prepared for the role.

Added 9/11: Matt Damon did an interview where he said it was like a scary Disney movie. The numbers say there is a 1 in 3 chance McCain will not live through is first term, so we'd have this hockey mom working relations with Russia. scary. So true!

I found some more information on the study of US clothing sizing and vanity sizing issues. In 2004 they scanned 10,000 subjects of all ages and races and took measurements. A couple interesting results:
* Of course we're getting taller and heavier, but heavier faster
* In 1941, the average woman’s measurements were about 35-27-37 (mostly white women measured for this though)
* In 2004, the average woman's measurements were 40-24-43 (all races)
* Average weight has risen to 157 pounds and Average sizes are now 14 to 16
And at the end of this paper, there is a note implying that Levi stopped their customization option for clothing where they'd scan your body and make the perfect jeans just for you. Well I didn't think I'd get back to San Francisco anytime soon (where I was told that store was).

Most of the family knows, and yesterday I told my boss and put it on facebook. So it's out in the open - we're pregnant with our first.
I started a separate blog for the baby stuff: http://babymach.blogspot.com .

Yeah a 3-day weekend! Saturday, I took off to my friend Stacy's house and then we headed to Franklin, TN to go shopping. They have a very cute downtown with cooler shops than anywhere in Hsv. And we usually hit lots of antique shops too. We started off with a large breakfast at Dotson's - looks like a hole in the wall, but very good food. The past 2 years we've been a little before Christmas and I think I liked the selection better then, since I dont usually decorate my house for fall harvest. Main St downtown was blocked off for a Jazz Fest but it didnt start till 5pm, so we didnt stick around that late. When we got back to Stacy's that night she showed me their new pregnant goat and the guineas and chickens and all the house renovations. Yes she stays busy. I came home to find a clean house and cut grass - Jeff was busy :) We thought his friends were going to have to stay here b/c other relatives were evacuated from Louisiana and were staying at her parents house but I guess they shifted them around b/t a few houses.

I called my parents today and it looks like my 2 brothers did not make it out of Houston in time (one lives on the water and another in Clear Lake). Houston had not called for an evacuation, but all the Louisiana people made friends with Texans and were headed west, so the roadways were already deadlocked with cars and gas stations were drying up. I hope Gustav doesn't make it to Category 4 and they ride it out ok.

Gotta make a couple dishes to take to a cookout...

This past weekend we went to Bham to hang with Jeff's family. My sister-in-law picked up a beautiful pink cake. Normally I don't post unflattering photos of myself, but this is pretty funny. I don't think I've blown out birthday candles for close to 10 years. We had a good time. Sorry I didn't get more photos.

Yesterday I ran into a friend from work who said he'd been to Italy recently and was heading toward Greece for fun. I mentioned how my cousins were there a few weeks ago. Well today I got their photos (gorgeous as expected). Then Allen fw'd his Italy photos. So - you can guess it - I'm longing for another amazing vacation. Why is it that Alabama just can't seem to keep me entertained ? ;)
I do have a Texas trip next month to look forward to - friends wedding and then visit my family. I am really looking forward to that, its just on a different level than Europe. C'est la vie.

Jeff got back from San Diego and couldn't hold in a surprise - asked me if I wanted my birthday present early. I said only if he still gives me something on my actual birthday (like flowers). I was very impressed with the necklace - definitely the coolest piece of jewelry he's ever given me. My wedding ring is beautiful, but this is cool. I think he said it was some kind of shell from New Zealand.
Last night we tried out the Dolce restaurant in Beale Street - heard it was half off on Sundays. I'm glad we didnt have to pay regular price since I was not that impressed. And watch out if you order a side salad - they are $9 - that's crazy!
We had a lazy weekend watching alot of Olympics. I have a co-worker whose daughter is swimming the backstroke. Pretty exciting.

So I have tried out 3 different teachers for the wine and canvas type parties. I think I still like the first the best. A couple weeks ago there was one at the Monaco, and that teacher was a flake. She kept saying stuff like, oh use whatever color you want and if that's where you want to put it well you go right ahead honey. And she didn't even start her own painting till 1.5 hours into it. That's not teaching! Last night was another lady that came to my friends office. She was a better teacher and more likeable overall, but the painting was a bit ambitious for new painters. Most of the other/student paintings in the room did not have much dimension. She had one painting done, and then the painting she painted in class was with mostly different colors. So that made it a bit hard for me to follow. I'm not crazy about mine - still deciding if I'll hang it up in my kitchen or not.


The wine and cheese is the most recent. The Van Gogh style one is from the Monaco party - supposed to be Starry night over Huntsville. I may have to buy some paints and work on that one some more.

Friday night Jeff and I left work a little early to head over to Bear Creek Canoe Run and get our campsite. We arrived about 3:30 to find the place closed and gate locked. So we drive 20 minutes back to town, call leave message and piddle around dollar stores. The owners returned about 5:30 (some emergency kept them away). We set up our tent in some drizzling weather. 6pm - no sign of friends. I guess about 6:30 we drive back up the hill a couple miles to get cell signal and leave messages. The brothers are lost but found some cool Bluegrass festival with old men missing teeth. I think a little after 7 the others get there. Claire brought a pop up tent which turned out great since the rain didnt stop. We also had portable tiny charcoal grills which we had to cook on since we couldn't get a fire. About 10pm the bottom dropped out and lots of rain came down. I was ok with rain, but the lightening kept bringing flashes to mind of all the downed trees in our neighborhood last weekend and I knew our tent would not stand a chance against a tree. The heavy storms lasted about 2 hours - no sleep for me when the ground kept shaking! Afterward the slow steady rain was nice except that I had drips on my legs (yes rain guard must have leaky seams). It kinda reminded me of chinese water torture - when was the next drop going to fall. So I guess I got about 4 hours sleep that night.
For breakfast we boiled omelets in a baggy -pretty easy and tasty. We went kayaking about noon for the half day trip. We went down lower bear creek, that had class I and II rapids. I think there were only class I rapids though. The water was a bit murky after all the rain, but it was a pretty float trip. In the middle we found a beautiful waterfall that you walked over shallow rocks and under a cliff edge to get to. The guys went in the swimming hole which was freezing. They guys also jumped off a rope swing a few times in another spot. After we had floated for 4.5 hours we got worried that we somehow missed our exiting spot, but we found it - guess we were just slow paddlers. Sunny managed to flip her kayaking 3 times I think. Jeff did once and had to struggle to get the water out and get back in (sorry noone stopped to help). So there were a few bang-ups in the bunch, several bug bites, one ankle twist, and one puking incident, but that was about it.
We returned home Sunday morning exhausted with alot of wet muddy stuff to clean up.

My long weekend in LA, Cali was jam packed and very fun. Stephanie and I went to see Patrick get married. That wedding is now on the top of my list as most beautiful that I've been to. Ranch in Malibu, garden set up, lights and flowerballs hanging from the trees, a big sweeping tent with more lights for the reception... you get the idea. The only 'super star' I noticed was Justin Guarini (Amerian Idol season 1) but he didnt do any singing, they just had a DJ. And after the wedding they had a bon fire - yes even that was glamorous :) For the other days we mostly stayed around the beach areas of Venice Beach and Santa Monica. Riding bikes from the hotel down the bike path was alot of fun! (Though my own bike seat would have been more comfortable). One day we did cruise over to Hollywood Blvd, Beverly Hills and Rodeo Dr, and then went down Mulholland Dr and on to the Getty Museum. That was another gorgeous place - set back in the hills, cool art, amazing circular garden, and there just happened to be an assortment of live music to add to the atmosphere. I think the only 'bad' part of the trip was that we kept forgetting our jackets and were a bit chilly at night with a breeze in the 60s. Ofcourse we stepped off the plane coming home and couldn't breathe in the 97 degree hot humid weather. That definitely meant the mini vacation was over!

Now for something closer to home - we're camping and kayaking this weekend. maybe next weekend I'll stay at home. or not :)

This morning the XM radio wasn't working thru the TIVO so I had to listen to VH1 for music while getting ready. I became paralyzed for a minute (or two) and had to watch - New Kids on the Block has a new video out. My biggest memory of them is that I didnt know who they were and felt rejected in my first classroom in 8th grade. I'll backup...
When I was in 7th grade in Houston my musical influences were from my brother - Rock music like Guns & Roses, Def Leopard and Led Zeppelin -- and another friend who listened to Depeche Mode and Erasure. Move forward, I get transplanted to Alabama arrive in a new school and all the girls are asking me which NKOTB was my favorite. I had no idea what/who they were talking about so they looked at me like I came from another country. Instead I made friends with Carole, the one chick in the class wearing mostly black and a studded necklace. From then on I was into GlamRock and went to all the rock concerts that came through town (Poison, Skid Row, etc). And it took a while, but I did befriend the other girls in the class, and we stayed decent friends through highschool.

This past weekend we went to the Hsv Farmers Market. It was free corn day - man, that brings out lots of people! I thought it'd be free raw corn still in the shucks, but no, it was small 1/3 cobb pieces that were grilled. We did pick up some plums, cantaloupe, blueberries and squash though. I was not over impressed with the plums and cantaloupe though. And why is a guy there selling plums from California?! I guess I misunderstood the purpose of a local farmers market. I do like the blueberries in my cereal, though they are pretty pricey. I'm still hoping the (closer to me) Madison farmers market grows more to include more food items instead of plants and soaps. And before I go back, I'm going to take a notepad to the grocery store and write down prices so I can compare and see if it's worth the gas money to go back. It sucks how I think in terms of gas money now. For example, my company is having a free ice cream social today. It's approximately 16 miles round trip for me to go. That makes it about $3 in gas, so technically not free. and it's not bluebell, so is it worth it?

I'm back from the Alaskan cruise. This was a family trip with several of Jeff's family members - 12 of us all together. We were on Royal Caribbean ship out of Seattle going to Juneau, Skagway, Prince Rupert and back into Seattle. A great time was had by all. We had beautiful blue skies and clear weather at all the ports. I was most excited about the whale watching excursion. We found 2 sets of mama and baby humpback whales and several other hb whales. No orcas though. We saw 2 glaciers, hiked through a rainforest, hiked a different 6 mile trail to some waterfalls, battled mosquitoes larger than Texas ones, got woken up by the foghorns, saw sea lions, walked on a beach to find petroglyphs, stretched our bellies from all the good food, battled with Ramada when a nest of ticks was found in the bed, and much more that I'm not remembering right now. I think part of the post vacation bliss I'm feeling right now is realizing how cool a family I married into. A mother-in-law that paid for and planned a vacation like this, being there and having fun, and coming back and liking them even more - life is good!

Now the mission is to get 1200 photos (combined from everyone) condensed into a single photo album. That will be my project for the next few weeks. Right now, a few photos are found here (in folders by day)
http://picasaweb.google.com/themachamers

That is the caption of my photo taken today showing me in a space suit on Mars. The photo is not exactly realistic looking, but it's still cool. It was part of a NASA traveling exhibit with freebies, so of course I tried it out, hey it got me away from the desk for a few minutes. It is in a big 18-wheeler trailer split into 2 rooms. The first part shows a very quick video and then 4 players use a touch screen panel to add components to a lunar base. Then there is another quick movie about going to the moon and the 6 sites we've already been to. They also have a small moon rock that you can touch (it looked like a regular rock to me). Then the tour (about 10 people at a time) moves into the next segment which is a circular kind of hexagon shaped room. They show video on 4 walls and on the floor. It starts off like you're in the water looking at an island and you can stomp on the fish and make them move more. Here, I envision kids going crazy and making the trailer shake :) Then the video went into more moon stuff and how NASA has helped other areas of our every day lives. And another part had moon rocks moving everywhere that you could stomp on again. I think I got carried away with the stomping because I've already forgotten part of the video's message :)
I'll add the scanned photo if I can find the guy with the scanner on this floor.

Bittbox posted a new list. I was shaking my head in agreement at most of them, but these in particular:
2. Your clients pay you for your professional expertise and skill, yet you’ve run into one of ‘those’ clients, that refuses to take the advice from the very person he/she is paying for advice (you).
4. You’ve requested a vector logo from a client, and instead, they email you a 72 dpi image they grabbed from a website.
10. You’ve had a client ask you to “Make the logo bigger.” There is also a separate funny video for this.
12. You’ve learned to over-price web design projects because most clients are more picky about their websites than a high school girl picking out a prom dress.
19. You’ve done everything but give up a body part to talk a client out of a “Flash Intro.” Yeah. I said it. Flash Intro. Sad, so so sad. (goes along with #2)
24. You’ve had a client that wants a website they can “update” on their own, but doesn’t know shit about websites.

I can't remember who now, but a friend had words to the final countdown song in an email or chat and it's in my head now. We leave for Seattle in 2 days for the Alaskan cruise. So far the weather channel is predicting rain everywhere we go. I may kick myself for not buying some gollash (sp?) boots that were so fashionable in the Memphis mud. Then again I'm already worried about how much luggage I'll have.
My mother-in-law has planned this entire trip and kept up with all the confirmation numbers for hotels, cruise, cars, cabs, etc. I think I'm going to tease her about quiting the dental field and going into vacation planning.
We have our regular cat sitter lined up - I think we're his cash cow - he loves it when we go on vacation! Yesterday my boss held a 4.5 hour meeting, so I'm definitely ready to forget about this place for a while.

Not much else to speak of besides yard work and some movie watching. We saw Indiana Jones. And depending on all the plans in Seattle on the return, we may try to see Hancock, Will Smith's latest movie. Hopefully we'll catch some fireworks in Seattle somewhere.

I had my first gas tank that cost more than $60 today. Locally we are holding at about $3.99 and I'm thankful to have a car that doesn't want premium grade. I do remember when gas was under $1. I think that was about 12 years ago. Those were the good ole days when you could cruise for fun and not worry. Now I calculate a trip to store X will cost me an additional $4 b/c it's 10 miles across town. Or even leaving for lunch will add an extra $3, making now even cheap Taco Bell go up to about $7 so it's hardly ever worth it.

My group at work had their awards ceremony today. I liked the casual setting at the botanical gardens, but it was hot. I'm waiting to see if anyone got sick from the potato salad. (I stay away from mayo when it's served in 90 degree weather). I was nominated for a peer award under the communication category. I had a suspicion that I would loose to the younger, cuter, always happy and now pregnant girl and I was right. Everyone likes her including me, so I wasn't upset.

Before going to the Botanical Gardens I went to the Space & Rocket Center to see our exhibit getting set up. This was my first time in the new Davidson center. I was impressed. They did a good job of setting it up so you can walk under the Saturn V rocket. I'll have to take Jeff back with me and show him the fake moon dirt glovebox I helped create.

A few weeks ago our 3.5 year old oven started acting up. It would sound a horrific alarm and shut down if the temp got higher than 375. After some research I came to the conclusion that GE sucked and it was not worth another $400 in parts and labor for a $700 oven. (Yes we lost $50 to a repairman who said they discounted the parts). So we got an upgrade, a Whirlpool convection oven. We also decided to try to install it ourselves before paying $120 to install it. I helped Jeff move both ovens (he should be glad I'm not a 5 foot 100 lb lady -the type he used to be attracted to, or maybe still dreams about, ha). It started off easy, but ofcourse he did have to pull the saw out and cut off about an 1/4" off the wood cabinet. It made our house smell like sawdust but everything turned out and it works. yea! I only baked some rolls in it tonight, so I'm still dont have enough info to compare a convection oven with a traditional one.

In other news, I heard a new (what I think is) redneck term. Some people were near a line talking and someone else came up and asked if they were in line and he said, "no we are just bumping our gums". WTF? Jeff and I laughed. I guess it means just talking. sounds stupid to me.

Friday night we hung out at Keith & Angie's for Keith's birthday. The no-kids night was definitely more calm after the past 2 kid-filled parties at their house. Oh, Kaylee's first birthday party was very cute last weekend. The castle cake was amazing. Saturday was Jeff's birthday. We didn't do much besides clean house and some yard work. Jeff got his new Tivo HD hooked up, as well as XM radio coming thru the tv. Sunday we had some friends over the pool and then back to our house for a cookout. Overall a nice pleasant weekend with good company.

Today at work I got to hear about some bikini-bull riding. A few guys went to N.Carolina for some training, met up with other customer/friends including some from Sweden and went to a bar advertising bikini-bull riding. The story wasn't as wild as I was hoping, but I couldn't help but wonder if they have bikini-bull riding in Sweden. I think they only saw fully clothed girls (though some in dresses) ride, so I'm sure it wasn't anywhere comparable to the nude beaches they have access to in Europe. Still, it's funny to think of Europeans in what was probably a redneck bar. ha!

I first saw an article about the solar tree - a large combination of street lights in a modern shape. (It is actually in Milan but designed by someone in Vienna.) This is so much prettier than a standard looking light post with a couple square flap looking panels attached.

Today I read an article about another solar tree, more like plant-sized version that comes potted. The leaves are organic thin-film solar cells.

I always get excited when I can see that designers have involvement in making something functional also beautiful. (I'm on the hunt for some more cool examples) And for the plant-size version, I'm hoping they come out with a palm tree size one. Jeff has been saying no to me when I ask for a palm tree saying it wont fit in our suburban setting (which I agree), but I'd make the sacrifice of standing out for a solar version.

I think I've made a friend of mine jealous about some upcoming travels/vacations. I can't help but to talk about going places and wishing to go places since everyday life seems too ordinary to talk about and probably boring to most people. I think I am a person that likes to stay on the go and escape my boring desk job, which I clearly remember saying I would NEVER have as an adult. I think those words came out of my mouth before I had to make my own money to survive. Lately I've been pondering how do people come up with a balance in life and planning, that is, spend enough of your money to have fun in your youth, while saving enough to retire on comfortably. I've seen too many examples of deaths too soon into retirement, or a disability limiting mobility. When I think of those examples it's easier to say sure, lets fly off to that destination since there is no guarantee we'll be around long enough or healthy enough to do it in our 50s or 60s. I'm also afraid of more family obligations I'll have in the coming years. My parents have buried 3 of their parents in the last few years, with many years before that consumed with providing care for them. Now they are working on fixing their own misc ailments as well as taking their siblings to the doctor for misc problems. That does not leave enough room for fun. Hmm, so yeah, I think I just validated my reasons for some trips this summer. Alaska is in a few weeks, then a friends wedding in Los Angeles. And recently Jeff's friend invited him to London, so I'm working on figuring out how to fit that in.

Last Friday Hsv police were in a high speed chase that made it's way on the arsenal. Communication didn't flow in time to move the barricades at the gate and the 2 ladies didn’t crash their car for several more miles on base. That crash resulted in the death of a NASA employee. Today a MSFC rep talked to everyone and answered questions. The usual questions flowed, why couldn’t they shoot the tires out, did the police call to warn the gate guards, this means they aren't prepared for a terrorist, etc. The terrorist question drives me crazy. I wish the country didn’t live in fear, it's not a good way to live your life. Anyone can die in a car crash at any time or a freak of nature like an earthquake. The latest story I heard was that this man had just come back from lunch with his family and his two boys, ages 6 and 3, begged their daddy to stay home and play with them. How sad to think that the 6 year old will probably grow up remembering that. It was another instance in life that makes me more aware of how lucky I am for so many things, family, health, friends, too many to list.

On another note, today is voting day. On the local ballot is a sales tax increase to 8.5% with the benefit going to schools. In my frustration yesterday trying to find out details of who and what else was on the ballot, I also looked up what Alabama property taxes were in comparison to the rest of the nation. AL ranked #49, and that is probably a correlation where our schools rank. If they want better schools, why can't the state or people of the state raise the property tax. That will hit those with money harder. Instead they propose a sales tax that hits everyone hard including the poor and lower income that rent. And for future reference if you need to do research on candidates, this is a great site: www.votesmart.org.

I have a new record for amount of time to get through the gate at work. Normally my commute to work is about 12 minutes. Today it was 37 minutes. I thought there was a wreck or maybe some random car checks since we had a highspeed police chase on base that resulted in a fatality last week, but no, the big slow down was so that people could take their badge out of the plastic sleeve and show to the patrolman. This is a new part of our special badges - a plastic sleeve holder since we can't punch holes in them to attach a clip. Now I have a new fear - this sleeve will become loose and my badge will fall out in the toilet.

Jeff and I finally finished painting the kitchen this weekend. Yes, thats me on top of the fridge in order to reach above the cabinets. Before I tried out a light green and it just didn't work with the rest of the tan elsewhere in the house. And since I'm not ready to paint the rest of the house, I decided to go with a darker color. It looks great and even goes with the ceiling color - yea, one less thing to paint. Here is another larger version.

I took a cute photo of Ginger near her new feeder. This is her usual pitiful 'feed me' face. If you click on the image there is a larger version that also shows the timer dial that comes with the feeder. You can set it to go off every 15 minutes if needed. So far Ginger has not tried to bang this one around like the last feeder.

I read a few articles about a miracle fruit/berry that tricks the tongue to make everything taste sweet, including lemons. It seems to change the flavor of most everything that hits your tongue for 30 minutes to 2 hours after eating the berry. A guy in NY has had a few flavor tripping parties to experiment with food. It sounds pretty cool. One lady was pouring Tabasco on her tongue and another said that Guinness beer tasted like chocolate milk. Here's the link for the NYTimes article. Even funnier was a video of the G4 network hosts trying it out, the chic couldnt handle it :) A guy in Florida is selling 30 berries with overnight shipping for $90. This Wallstreet Journal article has some more history on it and other peoples efforts and failures to work with the FDA for diabetic uses.

This cracked me up. I had dinner with a friend and in the middle of telling a story she mentions going online to smellywasher.com and buying their product. Great website name! Evidently front-loading washing machines tend to stink. So bad, that Linda's whole house stunk. How horrible! but the magic trick is to just use borax detergent with every load and it wont stink. So that website is ripping people off by charging $16 for plain Borax (or so Linda said, since I dont have one and have not tried it).

I took off on Friday since I knew the office would be dead. My goal of the day was to get my wedding photo album done (yes 2.5 years late). And I made excellent progress, I'm just lacking the honeymoon photos. This is my first time using blurb.com so I have my fingers crossed. They give you the exact size of the pages, so most pages I did my own collage in photoshop. Friday night we got a call from Jeff's friend that he was going to be in town and we should come down to his parents lake house. That was an offer we couldn't refuse. So Saturday we spent at the lake and caught up with Aaron and Karen who we had not seen since their wedding in California. The water was very cold so I didn’t stay in long. His family had a house full with 3 kids there and 3 grandkids, so we left after a wonderful dinner of bbq'd beef and pork tenderloin. Sunday we got caught up on yard work which I followed with an hour at the pool, and then a nap and then off to Keith and Angie's cookout. They had a big crowd, maybe 40 if you included all the kids. It's funny to think how their parties have changed to include the kiddie activities now. Monday I got the kitchen painted a rusted red color. I love it. Now I just have to paint above the cabinets. Most muscles in my body are sore from something or a combination of things I did this weekend. I guess now they'll stiffen up sitting at work.

Update on the cat saga - instead of buying child gates, we got online and looked for a different automatic feeder. Jeff found an expensive one, but hey, I could feed Ginger 48 times in a day if I wanted. The place had great customer service when I emailed a few questions - the guy was even funny and said the cat couldnt break it unless of course she was the size of a small dog and body slammed it. It arrived yesterday and Jeff took some pleasure in putting together a new gadget. Then we tortured the cat while testing it out to get just a little bit to come out at a time. It has a chute of sorts and the bowl is under that. It was pretty funny to watch her have to use her paw to move the pieces that were under the chute, but she ofcourse figured it out. And later we were watching tv and I heard a noise that sounded like a metal fence rattling or something. I had already forgotten about the feeder - Jeff laughed at me for getting startled. Ginger didnt know what it was either and we had to coax her to the bowl. She must have figured it out throughout the night because she did not meow at us at all until Jeff's alarm went off. Yeah! so far so good. I also think this feeder will be easier for my cat sitter to figure out when we go on vacation.

I'm attempting to build up some stamina for hiking and walking in Alaska.
Last night Jeff and I went out to eat and then looked at ovens and paint, so I didn’t walk.
I'm meeting some girl friends tonight, so I don’t think I'll be walking after a martini, so I decided to bring a change of clothes and walk on the little trail near by my office. It's a half a mile loop, part of it shaded and part open and sunny. I forgot my MP3 player so here are some of the random things that popped in my head...

* The wooded area is also close to the steam/piping (?) lines. Today they are making a constant chug chug sound that makes me think of a monster breathing heavy while chasing you and I'm walking along what is now a secluded wooded curvy path, perfect background for a scary movie.
* Ah, the smell of honeysuckle brings pleasant thoughts back
* Ooh, wild strawberries, I loved strawberry shortcake when I was a kid. When I was a kid I didn’t have to worry about exercising, oh how it'd be nice to be a care free 5 year old again. I was usually only scared of some of my brothers friends and could go hide under my tall bed with the strawberry shortcake comforter.
* Ah, the smell of freshly cut grass.
* I see 5 construction workers, 1 is holding something, 1 is hitting it with a sledge hammer thingy, and 3 are standing around watching - wonder how much gov't money is being wasted just in that little group.
* Those people passed me on the trail and didn’t say hi, they must not be from the south.
* (looking through the trees), ack that man is not wearing a shirt - it's highly improbable that he is one of the 4 good-looking men I've seen around here, must walk faster so I don’t run into him.
* I wonder how different the trees and foliage and greenery will be in Alaska. It'll be nice to be in completely different surroundings. Man, what do cityslickers do when they are just surrounded by concrete and buildings. Guess I'm pretty fortunate to be able to break up my work day with nice walks like this in 74 degree weather.

My cat won't shut up. She wants food all the time - will eat till she pukes, then eat the puke. Every morning she'll come in and meow at the top of her lungs between 4 and 5am. I have already bought a $50 feeder than opens automatically by a turn dial, but it doesnt allow the times to open more than every 5 hours - this is a problem in the middle of the night. Here are the options I'm considering:
- Buy 3 child gates and lock her in the kitchen/utility room area all night, every night
- Find a shock collar for small animals
- surgically remove her vocal cords.
So I think the first one is the most humane :) Guess I'll break my personal rule and actually go to Walmart this weekend to purchase the kiddie gates.

I got an email from Trip Adivisor saying I had been to one of the best destinations for 2008. I was intriqued so I clicked on it. Out of the top 100 world destinations I've been to:
#11 Salzburg, Austria
#16 Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
#34 San Francisco, CA
#41 New Orleans, LA
#52 Napa, CA
#62 Prague, Czech Republic
#75 Munich

Several of the top 25 U.S. destinations were in Hawaii and California. I already have the travel bug and this didn’t help any. I just added more places on my list to explore.

Quick synopsis of my running around lately:

Apr 19 - Bham - hang w/brothers and see a comedy show

Apr 26 weekend in Houston/Kemah to hang with my parents and more brothers. This time water and a boat was involved :)

May 2 weekend in Memphis for Beale Street music festival. Tunes, mud and lots of people describe that

May 4 flew to Chicago for a web design conference. Lots of brain stimulating presentations broken up with fun people and bars and pizza!


I'll write more when I have time. Now it's on to planning a mothers day weekend and doing laundry.