...

We made it back from the beach yesterday. Our friend Taryn was getting married in Ft. Morgan, so we decided to be one of the 90+ people to rsvp yes to the wedding (I know she didn't think a destination wedding would be that big). We arrived Friday after a 8 hour car ride. Allison was very good and got to see TV for the first time (that got turned on when she got fussy). Brother Greg and Claire went with us and we stayed in a condo at the Beach Club. We practically had the resort to ourselves or so it seemed, but then again it rained most of the time so maybe people were hiding out inside. Since it was raining and a 20 minute drive into town, we stayed local and had a nice seafood dinner at the restaurant onsite there (Allison slept through it). Thunderstorms woke me up a couple times that night, but being half asleep I remember asking Jeff it that loud sound was a motor cycle; kinda funny.

Saturday was more rain and so much so that we wondered if that road heading back to Gulf shores would flood over. so we stayed put, inside with books and cards. About 4pm the clouds separated and it was gorgeous. Perfect for a wedding - or three. Turns out 2 more houses nearby were having weddings on the beach. I went a little early and got to see the bride's sister work some magic on helping Taryn get some cleavage with the help of rolled up tank tops and underwear. The previous attempts with boobie stickers in the shape of porkchops was even funnier. The bride was cutting up and seemed to be way more relaxed than her mother and the groom. During the ceremony it was hilarious to watch the groom take very deep breaths to prevent what looked like a close call to passing out. The wedding was nice and short, and silent for most all the guests (no mic set up).

At the reception (in the house) we go to talking to a couple friends Jeff used to work with and heard a fun story. 5 ladies rented a house nearby and got a knock on their door late Friday night from a neighbor frantic that their porch light was on - screaming the turtles are coming turn your light off. Evidently they didn't read the large sign on the refrigerator about the turtle eggs that hatch between May and October and sure enough the environmentalists had already set up short plastic walls guiding the turtles to the ocean practically right outside their house. Tammy (a huge animal rights fanatic who even went to New Orleans to help Katrina stranded animals) was super excited and woke up the whole household screaming, THE TURTLES ARE COMING, THE TURTLES ARE COMING. They got out there with their flashlights and were picking them up one by one and putting them back in the water.One of the ladies had her 5 year old son with her who was helping. I'm already jealous I missed out on this - I just can't imagine how much fun that would be for a kid to help out with.

Sunday morning we woke up to partly cloudy skies. Finally! So after Allison's morning nap, we were out the door (about 9am). She had on her lil swimmer diapers and we headed for the beach. I wanted to at least say I took her to the beach. Jeff held her and walked out in the ocean a little bit but the first splash and she started crying. So we got her settled in our lap under the umbrella and she was ok for a bit, but sand was of course getting everywhere. I figured as much and sure enough, a 6 month old on the beach is not really fun. So after maybe 30 minutes she cried for food and the bottle wasn't warm enough so I went back to the condo to feed her while the gang packed up stuff to take to the pool. The indoor pool was nice and the perfect temperature for her. She didn't know what to think about it for the longest time, but finally started slapping her hands on the water and didn't seem phased by those splashes at all. After a while there, we went to the outdoor one and got her positioned under and umbrella again and she took a nap in Jeff's lap while I attempted to get a sunburn. There were only a few others at the pool. I liked being there off-season and not having to wait, but then again cool options like the tiki bar and gulf-side grill were not open. no margarita pool side :( So we had a nice half day in the sun, even saw dolphins in the distance but then the rain came back later that afternoon.

The drive home Monday was a rough one with really bad storms. I hate driving 40 mph on the highway with white knuckles. Back at home last night, Allison seemed to back to sleeping better in her own bed. Saturday was rough for Claire and Sunday was just a long attempt at getting her to wind down enough to get sleepy.

oh, I was hoping I'd like Ft. Morgan as a place I could go to with my family next summer, but I found it too secluded. I prefer options for shopping and eating. So I'm back on a search for a 5 bedroom house for about $2500/week with beach and pool access.

I took Allison over to my friend Dana's house Sunday. She did the one-month photos, but at my house when I was new to the mommy thing and I just stayed stressed. This time I went to her house where she has lights, props and backdrops and I didn't have anything to stress about. It was a great experience this time. A lot of it could be her age now. Now she actually feels like a real baby. Something about a one-month old, they just don't have too much personality. At six months, she's cuter, smiles easily and is fun to interact with. I took the quilt that cousin Jeanette made and used that for a background in one of them, and then I brought the Strasburg dress that a friend gave me. So we have the dress shots and the rest were naked shots (well, naked in pink bloomers). I saw a few of the photos on her camera and they were great! So now I'm in anxious wait mode :)

update: here are some photos - more in picasa


Saturday night we went to Keith and Angie's for a little while. The Auburn game wasn't on TV so we figured we hang with friends and watch the Alabama game. They enjoyed torturing us screaming Roll Tide. I think we were over there from about 6pm to 8pm and Allison was great the whole time smiling for everyone. It wasn't until the calm quiet dark car ride home that she had to start screaming. I'm sure we over stimulated her and of course kept her up an hour past her bedtime. The screaming kept going after we got home but I finally calmed her down with some rocking. I think in the future we'll try to keep the new faces and stimulation during the day and leave the last couple hours before bedtime calm. We'll in a perfect world anyway :)

As for her cold, she still has a cough that seems to be productive at breaking up the mucus. I haven't taken her back to the dr yet.

I saw a funny bumper sticker today. It reminded me of all the hard core Republican Texans in my family.

I'll keep my guns, freedom, and money. You can keep the "change".

I'm still amazed that people think Obama will take away freedom. Then again Fox News still has viewers after one of their people called Obama a racist against white people. Yeah, I really think he hated his white mother and grandparents. I think my eyes will start hurting if I keep having to roll them that far back in my head!

I feel a little lucky that Allison made it almost 3 months in daycare without being sick. Now I'm afraid we'll be spreading the germs for the next few years. joy. I took her to the doctor on Friday and he listened to her breathe and said there wasn't much we could do at that point. It seemed to get worse Friday night where you could hold her and just feel her chest rattle with congestion. Then Sunday the fever started. when it got to 101 I paged the doctor. He said they're not too concerned till it gets to 103. Through all this, Allison has not been too fussy. She was definitely more cuddly on Monday which I didn't mind. Tuesday Jeff stayed home while I went into work for a half day. Today she's back in daycare- we'll see how that goes. I may be calling the dr again at the end of the week to check for an ear infection. I've been wondering if I have one myself. Seems like I've been congested for 2 weeks now. At least I know how to get rid of the mucus. Poor Allison just coughs to break it up, then swallows it, then sometimes has projectile vomit. oh yeah - that was a site that left Jeff and I both screaming :) I think we may need to rent a carpet steam cleaner for the living room rug. Hopefully next time I'll do better at aiming her mouth. haha.

The news is doing a good job of scaring me about the swine flu this year. But I'm not scared enough to give an experimental vaccine to my 6 month old or myself for that matter. I'd rather the newly rushed and developed vaccine be tested on other people before it gets in my body. Luckily, I get weekly info-emails from work on flu facts that include detailed photo instructions of how to wash my hands :)

In other news my dad got a Great Pyrenees puppy. I got the first pictures of the 9 week old yesterday. He's an adorable ball of white fluff. We won't get to meet him till Christmas, but I predict he'll be about miniature pony size then and just the right size for Allison to go riding. I'll tell my dad to start looking for a saddle!

So I realized I haven't written much about Allison's developments. Here are some highlights at 5 and half months:
She's still the best baby ever!

No teeth yet (that probably helps reinforce the above :)

She's arching her back and very close to rolling over, but not there yet.

Tummy time is not as traumatic as it used to be. She seems to enjoy seeing a new perspective of the world and ofcourse her musical mirror toy I put in front of her.

She has hair. Enough of a peach fuzz that I considered it sticking up one day. I don't think anyone else would describe it that way though. haha. Most still consider her a bald baby. I'm guessing the hair will come in light brown, but her Mimi/Grandma is thinking it'll have some red in it.

We never really had a problem with cradle cap, only had a couple small patches of a flaky head after a bath.

Eyes are still a dark blue/gray with a couple brown flecks. Still a toss up what they'll be.

We'll find out in a few weeks after her 6 month check up, but I have a feeling she'll be on the long side. Her onesie/sleeper outfits are a size 6-9 months and she's close to outgrowing those. but if you just put 6-9 month pants on her, those are still a little big around her waist and butt. And some of her cute onesies size 6mo that button at the crotch are a little small.

The only words we've heard sounded like a hey and hi. Usually we just get babble. But she sure is happy about whatever she's saying.

Still smiles alot - all you have to do is smile at her and she'll usually return one back at you.

I think she really likes the baby sling I have. I've used it this week more with Jeff being gone and she seems to calm right down when she's cuddled up with me :)

A typical afternoon/night for us - bring her home about 4:45-5pm, she'll get a bottle between 6 and 7, some playtime, bath every other night, walk around the front of the house (suns goes down in back), then in bed about 7:15. Most nights we get up at least once to give her a pacifier and then she's right back to sleep, then she officially gets up about 6am. Though lately I think she wants to wake up at 5 am but I pop that paci in so she dozes off again.
Yes, we are very lucky and thankful for this sleep. I'm afraid of how it'll change when she starts teething, or develops the knowledge/concept of us leaving the room.

I caught up in age to Jeff yesterday. He wasn’t here to see it though. I was hoping Allison would say mama for my birthday, but no luck yet. She does say what appears to be ‘hi’ though. Either way she greeted me with a big smile so that was good enough. I had a couple of my margarita girlfriends over last. I think they enjoyed babytime most. (They are both waiting on grandkids they fear may never come. ) Allison was really good except for a few minutes when Liz took off her glasses. This change of face must have freaked her out because the bottom lip and a few cries came out, but she calmed down and went back to happy baby soon enough.

I had a bit of a head cold last week, but it went away enough for me to torture myself with an aerobics class yesterday. That free gym membership is a little motivation to get me in there. Now, I just need some motivation on my diet. I really need to get back into my pants before winter. I can get into them, but I fear I may have panty crater lines on the rear and I would rather not draw that kind of attention. I know they say that it took 8 months to put on the weight, but after 5 months you get impatient for it go back to wherever it came from. That whole breastfeeding thing did not result in one of those magical stories I hear of women getting down a smaller weight than before they were pregnant. Whoever started those stories are evil! I am happy to report that I am back into my smaller bras. Thank the heavens my ta-tas did not get larger. I’m pretty sure my feet are the same size too. Strange how I was so greatly concerned about those 2 aspects of my body.

There is not much news on the homefront. I enjoyed some of our cooler weather and hammered in some fence nails Sunday. We learned that the previous owner built that fence himself – that explained a lot. I hope it can last another 5 years, but I’m doubtful. We tried out the baby jogger and it’s definitely nicer. I do love how our neighborhood is big enough for several different walking routes. I’m still way behind on printing photos of Allison and getting some collages up on the walls. I don’t think I’m living up to first-time-parent standards of having 20 photos of the new baby in the family room :)

Jeff’s parents will be back this weekend on their way back home. Guess we can have another Saturday night out since babysitters will be there. Friday night I’ll be lounging with a bunch of girlfriends, martinis in hand, at someone’s lakehouse. Oh how I wish I could snap my fingers and make Friday appear now. My next countdown will be for our beach trip next month. I wonder what Allison will think when she puts a sandy hand in her mouth. Haha.

This weekend seemed to fly by without any relaxation or downtime at home. Friday night I did my grocery shopping. Saturday morning we got up and went walking and came across a yard sale. I got a baby jogger stroller for $25! woohoo. Now, it's old but seems to be in good shape, I just need to spend a few more minutes cleaning it. We also bought a bicycle trailer thingy to hold a kid. (I have no idea what they are called.) It was $25 too so I couldn't pass it up. We keep saying we need to ride bikes more often so maybe next year we will. Saturday I also rode around and did a few errands, dropped off thrift store load, jewelry and Lowes. Then we dropped off Allison with a friend so we could go to Taryn & Wil's wedding shower fiesta party. They actually had a commercial grade margarita machine there :) Jeff got to hear a few conversations of moody/stressed girls taking it out on their husbands, which made us laugh, but I hope secretly he saw that I'm really not THAT bad :) We didn't want to burden the babysitter too long or get Allison too off schedule, so we left about 8 to pick her up and get home. oh, the babysitter was just a friend who has 3 boys and wanted to play with a little girl. One of her kids likes babies and evidently did a great job of keeping Allison giggling.

Jeff has not been sleeping well, so he took two Tylenol PM at 10pm, for the first time ever. Well, Allison got me up a few times, meaning I didn't sleep good, so Sunday morning Jeff was still groggy, I was cranky and we had to get ready to go see Aaron at the lakehouse. We somehow got out the door about 9am and made it down there at 11. Aaron and Karen's baby Owen, is just 5 weeks younger than Allison and both were concieved in Alaska. He is a cute lil chunk and weighs more than Allison. He was not feeling very good between a cold and stomach issues. I knew Karen was exhausted and had a much rougher night than I did. I couldn't help but think if I were her, I would hate me. Here I come to visit and I have this smiley happy baby that only cried for the minute before she got a bottle. The guys got to play in the water, while Karen and I chilled out in the shade. Allison ofcourse didn't want to take a nap, but she did fall asleep for much of her first boat ride. We had a good visit and next time the kids should be old enough to play together. We got home about 8pm, gave Allison a bath, fed her and bam our weekend was over. Seems like it was a quick flash but I guess we did alot.

Tonight is supposed to be concerts in the park, but I'm not sure if the rain I'm looking at right now will make it muddy.

I wonder if she could be a little overstimulated? :)

No, that's the look she always give for the camera.

Jeff's really belated birthday present came today. I signed us up for Thai cooking lessons at a nearby restaurant. It was good to learn more about the owners and overall have a better appreciation for what you eat. We made Shrimp Lemongrass Salad and Pad Thai with chicken and shrimp. It was really good (even if I left the onions out of mine). The salad part we made at a table set up in the restaurant, so I was excited to hear that they were letting us back in the kitchen to cook on the stove in a skillet. Jeff even showed off some flipping skillet skills. It was fun and I'm glad we did it, but it all reminded me of how much you have to chop up and prepare to cook and then you eat it all in a matter of minutes. I think I'd prefer to just pay a little more and go out to eat. So they didn't loose any of our business by offering the class :)

(photo taken with my new Iphone - I love having it everywhere with me :)

Allison discovered her feet a couple weeks ago. I think she still prefers her hands since they go in her mouth easier. It's so cute when she pulls on her feet like she's trying to stick her booty out. She has not mastered rolling over yet, but she's close because she's always arching her back. She's still a happy smiling baby. My next fear in parenthood is the teething process. Right now Allison sleeps so good - from about 7:30pm to 6 am with only one or 2 trips in there from us to give her a pacifier. My sister scared me when she said that her kids started sleeping in their bed when they were fussy b/c of teething. I guess only time will tell.

On the feeding front, I'm very close to closing down the boobie milk factory. I had arbitrarily picked a goal of 6 months to make it in breastfeeding. Well, that got shot down when I went back to work and had a boss that holds 3 hour meetings. A couple times I left them early for fear of leaking through my shirt. So I survived one month of pumping 2 or 3 times a day at work. I thought that was pretty good - she was 4 months old almost exclusively breastfed. Then I gradually cut out a pumping session at a time and now I'm down to just mornings. And that will get shut down next week, right around her 5 month birthday. I never had a strong opinion for either side of the breast vs bottle debate, but I did go through 2 AGONIZING weeks of learning to breastfeed with some pain beyond that, so when it did become easy (about 2 months later - ha) and I didn't want to give it up just because of work. Then I went to work and changed my mind again :) I gave it my best shot for a while, and I'm proud of myself for as long as I made it.
Now Allison is getting cereal at daycare once a day and thank goodness, those ladies are getting most of the bad diapers, b/c OMG, they are bad. I know it's just going to get worse later and both Jeff and I are in trouble b/c we both gagged this weekend. I thought of that America's funniest video clip of the compilation of 20+ dads gagging, pinching noses, wearing protective armor, while changing diapers.

Other parts of life are just rolling on. I did have a ladies jewelry night at my house this week that was alot of fun. I think I had 11 friends over and served blueberry lemonade martinis. oh yummy. I still don't think I've had more than 2 drinks in one night though. I'm a lightweight after going so long without during pregnancy and breastfeeding. I think I need some practice before our beach trip in September. Greg and Claire's babysitting duties may run over into the next day. haha.

Something hit me this morning and I realized this summer marks 20 years that I've lived in Alabama. ALABAMA. Oh, how I cried when I was 13 and my mom said I was to move here. So I packed up my life in Texas in 2 days, drove back here with my dad and started 8th grade. There were many changes that made it hard (besides the obvious family change) - how most people talked funny with that slow southern draw, how peoples first question was what church I went to or who my favorite New Kid on the Block was, everything about a much smaller school and more stuff I guess my brain has just absorbed as normal for around here. Luckily I made friends with the other tall girl so I didn't look like the only freak, and the headbanger chic since I wasn't into NKOTB and it worked out. I actually had a major personality change after moving up here. When I was younger in a bigger school system I was painfully shy, and for some reason I did a 180 up here. Maybe it was the parental change of having a dad and a stepmom (a woman with a strong personality and overall a better role model than my mom), or maybe it was that wildly fun and crazy tall girl Jenny, who knows, but I'm actually glad I'm here now. It has taken many years to accept the fact that Alabama is ok. It's fun (and scary) to wonder how my life would have been different if I had all the things I wanted - to stay in Texas or go to UT in Austin. Would I have run away to get away from my stepdad, would I have turned to boys for attention and gotten knocked up in highschool like an old friend there, or would I have been shot in highschool (yeah the schools were rough), would I have even gone to college and discovered I had some artistic talent? All I know is that those scary changes made a wonderful impact on my life. I grew up with hard working parents that pushed me to succeed and I think I did that before starting a new chapter in life with my own family.

I'm much too tired to come up with stuff to write, but I've been on the computer editing photos some more. We attempted another photoshoot with grandpa this weekend. Here is one of those 'too-adorable-for-words' gifts we got recently. What do you know it came from a dentist - so she can reach the sink to brush her teeth :)

I was reading some mommy blog about how the 3 month old stage is the best. While I don't have a comparison since she's the first, she did point out some wonderful points that I notice with Allison.

She smiles so much now. You just can't help but be in a better mood when a cute little baby is smiling back at you.

She can entertain herself. I've laid Allison in her crib to watch her mobile while I put up her laundry or just put her bouncy seat on the kitchen table to watch me do dishes. Usually she does pretty good for 15 or 20 min.

She's content to be held. Though I think she's sick of our living room as the scenery.

She's not grabby yet. She's still working on her coordination to grab the items you dangle in front of her, but she's certainly not grabbing my dinner plate yet :)

yeah - her head is finally stable and she's easy to carry around. (guess this has been the case for several weeks now, just didn't write about it.) I feel like that was a milestone that opened up a bunch of options.

Observant - you can really tell when she's focusing on something and I can just imagine all the brain cells getting turned on. It's fun to watch.

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