Ink

I have been fascinated by tattoos for years. Shows like “Miami Ink” could play for 3 hours a day and you’d find me sitting there watching it for the full 3 hours if I had the time. Because I don’t have any myself (there’s nothing that I find important enough in my life that I need it permanently marked on my body) I am constantly interested in what and why others get inked.

Some other thoughts:

• Sarah and Viki went to Texas for a convention and got tattoos together while they were there. I SO wish I could have been there to watch the process and get their first-hand reactions at the time. This is why I'm so glad Viki let me tag along when she got her nose pierced
• Sarah F tried to get me to threatened to “force” to get a tattoo once as a punishment for dating a certain guy I was interested in. Didn’t work.
• I’ve had a long-standing idea for a book (my idea for my first self-made million!) called “The Meaning Behind the Mark” – the idea was to travel around and interview sports stars about their tattoos and why they got them. The great part of this idea is the multiple editions of the book I could produce – one for baseball, one for basketball, etc. It’d be the perfect coffee table book for every sports lover!
• Before my little brother got his cross put on his chest, he consulted me on the design – I was so touched that he thought enough of my opinion to ask!

This morning CNN had a little picture version online of real people’s meaning behind their marks – to see them: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/27/tattoos.irpt/index.html.

2/3 Largest Life Stresses Accomplished... check!

Per the title, I've got the kid and a new house... not shooting for the new job though.

Things have been non-stop around here. As of Thursday, Jim and I are officially the owners of 2 houses. That’s right- we closed on the new one (with promise of fixing the counter to my satisfaction) Thursday at 1 and have been spending hours upon hours there ever since.

Friday, bright and early, the painters came to do the foyer, great room, hallways, kitchen, morning room, and our bedroom. It is amazing what a total of 8 workers can accomplish in about 12 working hours. Everything looks fantastic. I didn’t like the kitchen blue I picked out and as a result ended up at the Sherwin Williams store a total of 3 times having it retinted different shades. Finally I said “screw it, whatever color it comes out of the tumbler this time is what we’re doing”. True to my word I took that gallon home and didn’t even watch as they put it on the wall. It’s okay, not perfect, but not worth any more effort or patience from Patrick the SW guy.

I got part of the office and part of Nic’s room painted. Jim picked up her crib and planted about ½ the flowers we bought for along ‘the wall’. We’ll finish painting those two rooms, planting, and assembling said crib this afternoon before we go to Mom’s.

Another item on the agenda is celebrating my birthday (today). That’s why we’re having dinner at the parents. Jim organized everyone to chip in for a new rocking chair for me for the nursery. I ADORE IT. Nicole was crying in Great-Grandma T’s arms, I rocked her in that chair and she was sleeping within minutes. It’s a magic chair.

I’ve been packing some every day and we’ve taken a car load each day since Thursday. Poor Nicole has to play around the boxes! She doesn't seem to care though...

The movers come on Saturday (6 short days!) and I vow to be totally prepared and organized when they get here. I’m hoping that Saturday afternoon is just full of organizing and isn’t too stressful. *fingers crossed*

Hello, Dumbass

Most of my pet peeves have to do with driving, which is unfortunate as people shouldn’t act DUMB when operating hundreds/thousands of pounds of metal.

1) Turning right onto a side street with no traffic signal or stop sign should NOT require you to make a complete stop before turning. Why why why do people feel they must come to a total or near total stop before executing their turn is beyond me. Really, you can take a 90 degree bend fluidly, and SAFELY I might add, by just slowing down.

2) Inevitably when I go to any major “big box” store like Target, Home Depot, etc. there is always someone walking up the dead center of the aisle, requiring all drivers to creep up behind them. How these pedestrians don’t hear a car 6X the size of them and only 8 feet behind them is a mystery that may never be solved, but they always seem surprised to see a car when they casually glance over their shoulder. Note that, defying all logic, upon seeing a car behind them moving over to the side is not always the immediate response.

3) As I drove down the street to Nicole’s daycare, a car pulled out from the right and turned left directly in front of me. I honked my horn as I was driving about 30 miles an hour straight for her WITH the right-of-way. The crazy woman started yelling all these obscenities at me, all the while slowing her turn down to make sure got every last one of them in. I was completely baffled how her illegal and unsafe turn had HER upset, so I just shook my head in disbelief while I sat stopped in the middle of the road, waiting for her to turn/shut-up. Of course this woman had what looked like a 3 year old in her back seat as she dropped the F-bomb at least 4 times.

Oh, and I don’t like open kitchen cabinet doors either.

Weekend of 9/21/07

Friday: I went into work late because we had our final house walk-through before we close on Thursday. Paul, our project manager went through all of our warranties, maintenance recommendations (ie sealing the driveway), and, of course, the house itself. Remarkably, there were very few items of note that we “blue taped”- some dings in the drywall here, some scratches in the hardwood there. HOWEVER, there was on major thing wrong that may cause some stir- there was a seam in our Formica countertop that was 1) VERY noticeable, and 2) gaping in some areas. Now, so I don’t go overboard, gaping to me is a 1/8 inch spread, but in my countertop, in the frickin’ center of the workspace area, that’s huge. Mom showed me how her seam, which was sealed like they intend to do for me, rubbed away over time, allowed water to seep into the particle board underneath and eventually bow. NOT HAPPENING. I'm going to see the seal they put on this morning after work today but if it’s not satisfactory I'm making them replace the whole counter.

Jim would say “see, I told you we should have gotten the quartz” here most likely.

Saturday: I got my haircut in the morning and immediately upon my return proceeded to cook for 5 hours. First I had to make Jim strawberry pancakes for breakfast and then I made desserts for the shower that evening: Black Forrest Cake (Mike’s favorite!), Pumpkin bars, good ole’ American fudge brownies, and these fruit and poundcake skewers whose recipe I found on meals.com. By the time Jim came home from picking up our new plants at Natorps, I was exhausted and had filled the sink with battered bowls, whisks and baking tins.

The shower was a success though! Mary Ann and I coordinated very well (I enlisted Dad to help me make appetizers, Mary Ann did the main meal (catered) and I handled desserts and drinks) and Mike and Lindsay got a bunch of gifts- many they can use right away like kitchen utensils, tools from Home Depot, a water filter, towels, etc. The babies behaved and got passed around the whole night. In fact, the only time I saw Nicole was to feed her!

Sunday: I slept terrible that evening because MY KID SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT FOR THE FIRST TIME! I didn’t expect it so I kept getting up every few hours in disbelief that she was still asleep. Will this stay a trend?? She slept from 10:30 to 7 last night too… we’ll see if she does it tonight!

Jim and I ran errands, watered the plants purchased Saturday, and went to bowling. I bowled like complete and utter garbage, helping our team lose ¾ games. UGH. One game I had under 100!

Jim hung out with Nic, who’s now enjoying her Bumbo seat, while I packed. She can sit in it (the Bumbo) now that she holds her head completely on her own. (little plug- Lisa, notice the outfit?)

Let me add here that Nicole L-O-V-E-S Jim. If he comes to talk to her she smiles and laughs almost immediately. When he walks away she turns her head and then her body as far as she can to watch him go. It’s beautiful to watch. My remaining claims to fame are that I can feed her and that my touch still calms her down best when she’s fussy. Other than that, she’s most interested in her daddy. I don't mind too much though. :)

A New Cutie & Song Preferences

Awwwww- Lindsay sent me this fun picture taken at the Hungary zoo. ALL babies are cute, but especially mine and elephant babies. *wink*

******************

Unlike MANY people, I'm a HUGE fan of the radio. I love that it’s free and that it has a large variety of options literally at my fingertips. I listen to quite a few different genres in general but I’ve noticed that it seems all varieties of music often fall into the same fault- there is one really bad line in the song. So bad I wonder why the writer didn’t take it out and come up with something, anything better.

Here are a few examples:
Eminem’s Shake That- “… And I get more ass than a toilet seat” EWWWWWWWWW!

Fergie’s Big Girls Don’t Cry- “…And I'm gonna miss you like a child misses their blanket” Dumb.

On the other hand, there are some lines in songs that are so clever that, for me, make the song:
Rascal Flatts: "...God blessed the broken road that led me straight to you" How cool is that?

Green Day’s When I Come Around: "You may find out that your self-doubt means nothing was ever there / You can't go forcing something if it's just not right" Words to strongly consider some times

Also, in general, I prefer songs that

1) Tell a story

2) Have refrains with twists (not just straight repeats)

Weekend of 9/14/07

Long recap of the last few days...

Thursday- Granted this isn’t technically the weekend, but I’d like to throw out a public props and thanks to the Sturgises who went WAY overboard in wining and dining us on Thursday. This meal was so great it required Tom to take off early to help. Meghan had chocolate covered strawberries, bacon-wrapped melon, these amazing cheese bread appetizers, etc. all ready for us when we arrived. To boot, the Italian pasta and sauce was fantastic! The bar has been set! When we move into the next place we’ll return the favor. It’ll take me that long to come up with something equivalent!

Friday- Let me tell you a story about Nicole and how her weekend went. The kid got 5 immunizations on Thursday morning, one for some extreme diarrhea that kids get that I think had some residual effects on her for the next few days. When I got up with her at 5:30am Friday morning because of her restlessness and poor breathing (she’s congested), I picked her up and carried her to the other room. In route she lets out this HUGE burp (pent up gas is why I think she woke up to begin with) and then starts choking on some spit-up. Some hard patting on her back she coughs and is fine. While changing her, she starts leaking just as I pull the dirty diaper away, soiling the new one underneath. It rolls up the changing pad and wets her whole backside. She starts giggling. Love-ly.

She does successfully eat in a reasonable amount of time but right at the end the farts start rolling in and WHAM a blow-out that explodes out of the diaper and all over my silk pajama pants. This required me to yell and yell and yell for Jim to get up (he is an amazing sleeper) and help so I could get new pants on. While he’s changing her she projectile poops several feet and successfully hits the basket of laundry on the floor as well as the carpet. Rough morning.

I have no idea what else happened the rest of the day as a result.

Saturday- yeah, remember what you just read about Friday morning? Repeat most of these items, in order, except I didn’t get dirty in the process this time and instead of the laundry, the wall took most of the damage when Nicole was getting changed.

The Cetti’s cancelled on us for dinner because Julia was running a fever but this was good as it allowed lots of errands to get done, including another 3 hours at the drapery store. I can not find material I like for the kitchen curtains and I think I'm driving my dear mother insane in the process. We did successfully pick out material and design for the office and Nicole’s bedroom. I also know what design I want in another bedroom, the kitchen and great room.

Sunday- Kings Island day! P&G has “Dividend Day” once a year at PKI where they buy the park out and open it exclusively to employees and retirees. This is now the ONLY time we bother going to the park as we have no patience for standing in line on a regular day. We normally tour the place with the Childers and did this year as well. This was the first time I rode NO rides except for one little roller coaster with Ryan and Jim only rode the new Firehawk ride. That was it! Jim and I both agree that our desire to ride rides decreases proportionately with how many months it’s been since our last time doing so. This is, we think, nature's way of preparing us for parenthood- we’re looking forward to just watching Nicole and her future siblings ride rides in kiddy land and not getting on any ourselves.

Jason then took us to Natorps for the HUGE plant sale they’re having. Being a landscaper by profession we pretty much let him tour us around and make suggestions. Overall with the sale and his discount we got 30 plants for just under $200 which is AMAZING. We’ll get them next Saturday and plant them at the new house along the retaining wall.

We then went car shopping for Jim- he thinks the Erdahls have the right idea in pre-shopping. He’s strongly considering an SUV and I'm mostly staying out of it as it’s his vehicle. I’ll just step in when it comes time to final opinions and negotiations. Another 2 hours of errand running and we finally made it home, 9 hours after we initially left.

I was EXHAUSTED from such a busy weekend. Tried to go to bed at 9 but Nicole wasn’t having it. Finally sacked in at 10 only to get up with her at 11, 1 and 5. We’re going backwards in our sleeping through the night efforts. I'm hoping its residual shot effects…

An open house on Sunday led to 1 visitor and we have another separate house showing this afternoon around 5. WE NEED AN OFFER!!!

Acknowledge Me!

I think many of us would agree that society as a whole is pretty self-centered. Though I should be desensitized to it by now, I'm still surprised and disappointed when I do something nice for someone else and it goes unnoticed. I held the door open for the guy at the bank, not a big deal, but he walks through and completely ignores me. Like my holding the door was expected or, worse yet, required!

On the flip side, as a person who routinely tries to do little acts of kindness, it surprises and disappoints me when people don’t do nice things too; like when I followed a guy into the office on my way back from training this afternoon and he literally let the door slam in my face. Yeeeaaahhhh….

2 Month Check-up

Nicole just got back from her 2mo check-up. All’s well: she’s growing and meeting all of her developmental milestones physically and cognitively. Some highlights from the appointment:

• 13lbs. 3 ounces puts Nicole into the 95% for weight compared to babies her age
• Though she doesn’t look fat, her length of 23 ¾ inches is only in the 50% percentile. Apparently our kid is just dense.
• She still has a little head- 25%
• 4 shots and 1 fluid vaccination later, she’s got band-aids and a full belly showing she’s already over it

Other general accomplishments of our 9-week old:

• She can hold her head up on her own for long durations of time
• She follows objects moved in front of her
• She socially laughs and smiles
• She loves bath time and hates tummy time

One thing we were a little concerned over (and did what “they” tell you never to do- compare your kid to others) was how much she eats. Within the past week, two parents have asked what Nicole eats (3ish oz 8-9 times a day) and then followed it up with the fact that their kid at her age eats/ate 5.5oz per feeding 8 times a day. So, while she seemed content and growing to me, I wondered if we were really starving our kid.

Turns out we’re just fine. Doctor recommended 4oz. if possible (I can’t electronically extract that much but certainly can supply that feeding her the natural way) but stated anything more than 4oz. was unnecessary for a baby this age.

Yeah! We haven’t maimed her yet! :)

Oh, and I'm a pound and a half away from my pre-baby weight. Not all of that weight is in the same place it was back then, but the scale reading wasn't so bad!

2 Months Old Today!

Weekend of 9/7/07

Friday: I worked until 5 as normal but Jim had a fun day at work so he picked up Nicole early (4:00) and hung out with her until I came home. That evening we went to Kohl’s to look for a new comforter set (since we’re buying a King-sized bed for the new house, none of our Queen sheets will fit!) and found not only a comforter but a big summer clothes clearance sale for kids. Two crazy things happened: 1) we bought about $20 in clothes for Nicole and Ryann that are really cute ($4 for a dress, $3 for shorts, etc.) but the next day when I returned the entire clearance section disappeared. 4 FULL racks of 50-80% off clothes were gone as if they never existed. Glad we bought when we did! And 2) the comforter we found and liked was 60% off but we had a $25 gift card we forgot at home. I decided to come back the next day to buy (hence how I saw the kids clothes were gone) and the price went to a mere 30% off. UGH- was not willing to spend $50 more on it.

We also narrowed down who we’re buying the sprinkler system from and hope to have a firm install date on it this week. A “mere” $4900+tax will keep our lawn the envy of the neighborhood for years to come. More importantly it’ll keep me from standing outside watering for hours a month for the rest of my life.

Saturday: BUSY day- Mom and I left Jim with Nicole for the entire morning and early afternoon. This constituted the longest time (5 hours) Jim has been with her alone in her entire life. She was still alive when I returned and happy to boot! Mom and I went to the Mother’s Exchange at Lakota HS and got Nic about 5 new outfits for $9, then to Carter’s where Mom bought her another skirt, then to the fabric store where we searched out material for drapes for the new digs. We picked out the style for the kitchen, living room/dining room and got a good idea for the family room. The guy there was REALLY helpful and I'm going back soon with room dimensions, etc. so we can pick out material and order it.

We did end up finding another comforter on sale at Linens N Things that was on sale AND we will get a 20% price adjustment on when I return this week. Just need sheets!!

That night we had Sean and Jessica over for game night- Racko, Euchre, and Payday. Alas I won none! What was adorable was Emily following me around a bit and imitating me tickling Ben, my posture sitting against the wall, etc. Too cute!

Nicole is somewhat of a nuisance in the evenings (that sounds horrid to say about a baby I know) because she eats every hour and a half; this makes entertaining a little cumbersome because I need to frequently leave to take care of her. Giving her a bottle is actually harder as my supply of stored milk quickly dwindles because there isn’t a 1-to-1 replacement of it (since I skip pumping). Ah well. We have understanding friends so it’s okay.

Sunday: The Childers came over in the morning and we took them to our new house so Jason could evaluate our landscaping. Good news is that he had a lot of ideas and really knows his stuff. Bad news is that his ideas, while awesome, are expensive. The waterscape he recommended will be in the thousands but sounds so cool we want to do it (but won’t now because too many other, essential things need to be bought). We have to make some decisions on flowering perennials and whether or not to keep some of the package plants that might not be as kid/pet friendly (ie pointy-leaved holly).

I ran out to Lindsay’s bridal shower (yeah! I'm getting a sister-in-law!) and then to bowling that evening. I suspect we went 2-and-2 like we did last week though we won’t know for sure until the results are posted online later this week. Carole GUSHED over Nicole and it was so nice having a “babysitter” there to help take care of her.

Good news today—we have a house showing at 1:00!!! Keep your fingers tightly crossed for us!!!!!!

Body Awareness

I'm not sure at what age you become aware of your body. I don’t mean that your hand simply exists, but rather the skill of not having to dine in front of a mirror because you know exactly where your mouth is when you’re eating. Or the ability to put your finger directly into your belly button with your eyes closed. Somehow, blindly, many of us are acutely aware of where our body parts are.

I became conscious of this when I broke a nail the other day. I had come to rely on its size and suddenly, when it was half as long, my itch wasn’t getting scratched – my finger wasn’t close enough to my elbow!

Our brains are wonderful things that not only can it judge the existence of our permanent parts like our eyes, knees, etc. but it also remembers and takes into account our dynamic parts like fingernails.

Time for the looney bin (?)

I had the opportunity to sneak away from Jim and Nic this weekend and found myself at DSW. I haven’t bought new shoes in a while because, oddly enough, I have every type that I need except for one (black, pointy, close-toed stilettos) and I don’t really need those until sandals are no longer season-appropriate.

Anyway, I roamed the clearance section for steals and found myself getting very possessive over the Size 8 section. There was a chick who was there before me and one who came after I was already there. Though I wanted to take my time and look at each shoe, I started rushing through to make sure if there were any amazing pairs that I saw and claimed them first.

As I realized what I was doing, I started thinking about the dozens of people who probably paced the section before me that day and the shoes they maybe snatched before I even got the chance to see them. What’s strange isn’t that I got hung-up about missed opportunities, but rather that my perception of many places/things is that they didn’t exist before I got there. I don’t get mad about the shoes already gone before I arrived; I don’t give too much thought to the hundreds of people who slept on the hotel mattress before me (except for the comforter, I'm very aware of the fact that hotel comforters rarely get washed); I don’t think about the possibility that the puppy’s tongue that just kissed me might have been on its butt 5 minutes before I arrived. My conscious basically convinces itself that the item (the shoe section, the bed, the puppy, etc.) I'm in contact with sat idle until I appeared. *Poof* Suddenly that thing/place exists because I'm with it.

A dumb, incorrect, and self-absorbed view of the world, I know. I think that I accept this absurd view because to think of the dozens of germs and possibilities of germs on an item is too overwhelming and I, nor any of us probably, would never come in contact with the outside world if I really stopped to consider what I'm touching has touched before me. And so, I choose to not think about it.

What probably is neurotic isn’t that things don’t have relevance until I come in contact with them but I get possessive of them once I do (like my shoe section).

Show Reviews & Life Updates

1. Dad lent us a movie he borrowed from the library, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. He randomly picked it up as the back of the box looked good. It takes place in the 1700’s in France and deals with a man with an extraordinary sense of smell and his obsession with making smell last and be perfect. We gave it a B+ - VERY interesting story-line as we’d never seen anything like it before, EXCELLENT acting throughout, a little twisted though. The movie starts with the main character’s birth and shows how his mother tried to kill him. There I was holding my perfect baby watching another thrown into a pile of fish guts- horrifying for a new mom to watch. Anyway, we recommend getting it if you have time. To watch the trailer go to http://www.perfumemovie.com/ and click on video at the top.

2. We close on our house on September 27 and will move in that weekend! We made contact with several vendors this week- the painter (who I think is quoting a very reasonable rate to paint the great room, foyer, and upstairs hall), door folks (Mom and Dad are chipping in for a new fancy front door for us as a housewarming present), and lawn care company for the sprinkler system and backyard sod. The driveway and sidewalks were poured yesterday and all of our hardwood flooring and cabinets are in now. Things are really coming along. Now if our current house would just sell we’d be in business…

3. Nicole’s daycare is going well. Doing the half day thing is a good break-in for me (she probably doesn’t care at all) in regards to giving her up and easing my way back into work. There is a lot to do here (at work) so I'm keeping pretty busy in general and not sitting and being distracted with missing her. First day I got her she was sleeping, yesterday when I picked her up she was rocking on the outside glider with Marsha. All seems well.

4. Another recommendation if you have free time on Tuesday nights – the TV show Just For Laughs. It’s a candid camera type show that keeps Jim laughing hard for an hour solid. It’s literally the ONLY show we watch on prime time.

Back in Action

I felt like I was 8 and getting ready for my first day of school this morning. I picked out my outfit the night before and tried to get some of the final details ready for this morning, my first day back at work after maternity leave.

So, how’d it go? Okay. The schedule was to be me get up at 6am, get showered and ready for work, feed Nicole by 6:45 and be out the door at 7:30. I wanted to be at the sitter’s by 8:00 so I could go over some notes with her and still be at work by 8:30. Well, I got about 15 minutes off schedule by getting up 6 minutes late, having a sleepy baby who didn’t want to eat, and battling 275 construction traffic. Oh well.

I made up a 2 page sheet about Nicole to give to Marsha the babysitter. I included items like when she’s supposed to eat (10, 1, & 4), how to work the bottle warmer, when she normally naps (12-1, 2-4), her preferences (going outside, sleeping with her hands in “touchdown” position, etc.), and her congestion issues. Blame it on me being a first-time mom, but Jim said that it was an overwhelming amount of information. I explained it as causally as possible, and Marsha and Andrea seemed appreciative of my efforts. That or they humored me; either way I don’t care.

Yeah, when it was time to leave I cried. A lot. It’s not that I don’t trust the babysitter, I do, but part of me feels guilty for leaving her with anyone other than me.

Once I got to work I did pretty well. I made a pit-stop in the bathroom to check my make-up and make sure it wasn’t running down my cheeks and then I started in on the hundreds of emails I had yet to read. Jason made me cry by asking about her, but other than that brief stint I was so busy it wasn’t bothersome to be apart.

My boss did almost walk in on me pumping though as he didn't know why someone was in the vacant office. ha!

I picked her up at 12:45 and she was sleeping in her car seat. I think this half week will be just enough to get me comfortable with leaving her. I suspect when I get into full-blown work mode it won’t be too much of a problem. We’ll see for sure in a few weeks though. :)

End of our first phase

My maternity leave is coming to an end. Today and tomorrow are my last full days off. Next week I go into work in the mornings and pick her up in the afternoon; the week after that will be the beginning of “normal” life from here out – Nicole at the babysitter, Jim and I at work.

This six weeks has gone fast. The first part went fast just because everything was a learning curve with Nicole and I was still somewhat in “non-baby” mode in thinking that I could accomplish a long list of other items during the day. I was pretty successful at doing so, if I do say so myself. However, allowing myself to continue that multi-tasking mentality I think has cost me some valuable “stop and smell the roses” time, something I had trouble with during pre-baby days but was a less significant problem than missing the “rose” time with Nicole. I’ve tried to remedy this by watching her sleep more, dancing in the kitchen with her, rocking and talking on the porch with her on a more regular basis.

Timing for my leave has been good though as I’ve been able to help some friends out - I like the fact that I could benefit some others over the last few weeks when I might not otherwise have been able to (because I’d be at work).

I’ve been frequently asked if I’m ready to go back to work and give up my time with Nicole. I’m honestly torn between hoping she’s sad about going somewhere else and getting reports of a fussy kid all day (as that might mean she misses me) and hoping she adjusts perfectly and is no worse/better off than if she were here at home with me all day. The second option is only bothersome as I’d like to think that I’m better for her than anyone and no one can do as good of a job as I can, which I know isn’t the case as I chose to send her to Marsha because she has lots more kid and mom experience than I and is probably equal/better for Nicole than I am.

I’ve only cried at the thought of leaving her once. We’ll see how I do come Monday.

The Beach and the House

We signed with a realtor the night before we left for vacation. It was a recommendation/referral from one of my co-workers who used Jack for his recent move and really liked him. He impressed Jim and I with his “partnership” approach- really focusing in on the fact that this is a joint effort between us when it comes to decision-making regarding price, etc. Anyway, he had an open house today which one person attended and we’ve had 2 other scheduled appointments other than that. As of tomorrow the house will be “formally” listed on the market for 1 week.

The vacation to Myrtle Beach was great. Work continues to call (as they do several times a week) despite my being less able to give full or accurate information over the phone. Nicole has an unfortunate fussy time from 8-10pm every night (especially unfortunate as that’s the core time she gets to see Jim and she gives a bad impression of her temperament) and we found that what soothes her is being outside on the balcony listening to the ocean. Literally once you crossed the threshold from inside to out she was calm instantly and typically asleep within minutes. We tried to isolate the variables so that we could copy the atmosphere at home – was it the heat? The humidity? The sound of the ocean? I think we determined it to be the temperature first and foremost.

If outside wasn’t immediately available or wasn’t convenient the next thing that Nicole preferred was to be in Greg’s arms. Unfortunately I can’t compete with the salary he receives at his full time job or I’d hire him to be my nanny. That guy has a magic touch with his niece and she adores him.

We played lots of mini golf while in SC and I did POORLY at it. We also played a slew of board games, including a new one that Dad got me for my birthday (September 30) but decided we needed to play on vacation so I got it early. Good game, I think the Sturgis brothers will particularly enjoy it as it combines logic, trivia and strategy.

All in all it was a good trip. While a break from work for everyone else, what it provided from me was a break for myself. With 5 other competent adults who were eager to hold and care for Nicky, I got to actually walk the shoreline and go shopping sans baby- makes for faster, more enjoyable afternoons when you know your kid is taken care of and you don’t need to worry or go through the extra effort of toting her along.

Other highlights:
1) My cousin Jonathan caught not 1 but 2 sharks while deep-sea fishing- the only fish caught by the trio of guys going out!

2) Ocean was WARM after some horrendous rainstorms

3) Mom bought Nicole a bathing suit on clearance that we played dress-up with. We also tried on the bikini that Lori bought her- she wasn't as thrilled with our antics by the time we got it on her though...

4) Dad cooked breakfast for the whole crew every morning and made me coffee daily- first coffee I’ve had in MONTHS and damn was it good

5) Went to the Ripley's Aquarium on Thursday. Not worth $19, but still a fun time. I have a new appreciation for how nice Newport's aquarium is

What's Happenin'

A few life updates:

1. Nicole is a month old tomorrow! She went to the pediatrician for her 1 month check-up and here are the stats: 90% weight (10lb, 5 oz), 75% length (1 foot, 10 inches), 35% head (34 inches). She likes (tolerates?) getting bathed, likes to be held upright on your shoulder, doesn’t like going to sleep and can’t keep a pacifier in on her own which is probably a good thing. She stares so intently at you when you lock eyes that you feel guilty for looking away! She rolled over in anger about 5X on Tuesday (Jen O witnessed!) but we'll see if she keeps it up. I did catch it on video! She got to spend some quality time with her cousin Ryann at her Grandpa T's 55th birthday last night.

2. My relationship with Jim is at it’s all-time best. We’ve, okay, I’ve, lost all modesty when it comes to bodily functions- feeding Nicole, going to the bathroom in front of him, etc. There’s just no time to be discreet. Also speaking of no time, we have some really good conversations at 3:30 in the morning – sometimes that’s the only time we do have to talk since he’s working so late and there’s so much to be done on the house when he gets home. Many times when I’m taking care of Nicole he’ll go get me stuff I need- a cup of yogurt, a burp cloth, whatever- this is often just as helpful as his holding her and giving me a break.

3. The house we live in now will be up on the MLS this weekend. We’re signing with a realtor from Coldwell Banker tonight. It’s been determined over the course of interviewing realtors that the asking price we thought we could get for the house ($149,900) was too high and that if we had asked $139,900 for the house on our own like we will with the realtor we might have been able to sell it to one of the multiple people who called about the house while it was FSBO. Key is that the house sells in general as we now have a closing date of 9-27 on our new house and want to avoid 2 mortgages if at all possible. We’re really hopeful that it will go quickly just based on the traffic we got on our own with no marketing, much less what attention someone actively marketing can obtain.

4. The new house is making huge progress. See picture to the right! All the drywall is up now and there are a few improvements that we’ve gotten that we shouldn’t have due to builder errors in our favor- one is the drywall in the garage and the other is the wall tile in the master bathroom. We really enjoy working with our project manager, Paul, and have all the confidence that things are going well when we’re not there to watch what’s going on.



We leave for Myrtle Beach tomorrow so forgive me for no updates for the week!

Hats

We leave for Myrtle Beach in a few days and knowing Nic needs some sun protection while we're down south, I decided to have her try on some hats. She's got 5, each of them is too big except for the little cloth one we took from the hospital which makes her look thugish. This one was my favorite though.


I laughed so hard when she had it on that she laughed too!

(side note: the onsie is from her hippie OR friend, Martha!)

House Progression

We just completed the pre-dry wall walk through and things look great! We're scheduled to be done 9-20-07!

Good ole Matt

Quick pic of Nicole. Jim said the flowers were way too cheesey but I like the shot of her anyway. Viki helped me take it when she was in town this weekend (Thanks again!). Nic is 3 weeks old today!

Yesterday I ran to babies r us to exchange an outfit and a car seat base when I recognized the guy who would be standing in front of me at the guest service desk. It’s one of those weird things where you know the person in line and it’s been so long you feel sorta obligated to say hello and catch up but you’ve lived the last 10 years without doing so and wouldn’t miss the interaction if you didn’t have it but at the same time are kinda curious how they turned out. (Did you follow all that?) Anyway, I decided at first to go get the other base and if he was still there when I returned I’d say hello.

He was still there.

So I waited, did my exchange, and interrupted him before I left to pick out a new outfit. He was just who I thought he was – Matt M.- co-worker from the Orchard Hill concession stand when I was 15 and my date to Date Dance sophomore year.

Good news- he knew who I was so no awkward reintroductions.

As you can imagine, he and his wife are having a baby, hence why he was at BRU. Weirdness- he married Jamie Z- a girl he went to gradeschool with, I job-shared with when I was 16, swam swim team with, and took driver’s ed with. I was honestly more interested in what she was doing with her life than him, but didn’t want to get weird but slanting the conversation to be all about her.

Anyway, it was a short dialog in general and I didn’t learn much about what he was up to before we parted. He made me all nostalgic for about a half hour though. I’ll look for our picture and try to post it if I find it…