success!

Salad greens from our garden!

And carrots!! Carrots!!
This suckers have been in the ground for like 4+ months. They came up wide, but not very long, like 3 inches. (That's what she said!) Our salad last night was completly homegrown. I have to say, fresh carrots are REALLY good. Homegrown salad greens are pretty gritty though.

fulfilled

I rented a carpet steam cleaner from Publix and just steam cleaned the carpet in our living room and Piper's room along with our couch. I am now complete.

I had no idea just how ... AWESOME it feels to get to see the black, disgusting, grotesque water come up through the machine after it steams your carpet. Oh man. I loved it. Instant gratification. Our whole house smells better and the carpets look so good and fluffy. I can't believe we've been lying around on such filth this whole time.

And it make it even better - the whole rental was $35 including the soap and I split it with a friend.

wow

How am I just now finding this website?

365 Days of Crockpotting

goodbye

Goodbye cloth diapers.
You were really easy, fun and earthy for the first 6+ months, but now...not so much.
I can't do it all and cloth diapering was just becoming lower and lower on our list of Important Things. Actually, it plummeted as soon as we saw how cheap diapers are at Costco and realized how difficult it is to attach a cloth diaper on a baby that is in constant motion.
I feel like a schmuck that I'm not cloth diapering anymore, but I don't have the $$ to make an investment on some good quality cloth diapers so the old, crappy ones we had were constantly leaking and falling off of her. If money wasn't an option, I would have bought a dozen Bumgenius All-in-Ones and that would have lasted us until Piper is potty trained.
I guess I sorta feel like I'm admitting defeat? Yes I want to save the environment and all of that. But I can't do it all and it was just becoming too much work.

Ahhhh. It feels good to get that off my chest.

SNL video

Ewwww, and hahahhaahaha.

confession

I don't remember when I last took a shower.

But I did go in the hot tub the last few days. That counts doesn't it?

Tori

This song was on a mix CD Lisa made for me and I've listened to it plenty of times, but I've rediscovered this song and have been playing it on repeat, at full blast, for a week now.
Typical Tori Amos, the lyrics are way over my head and the video is totally bizarre.

blank

I can't think of anything fun/interesting/new/witty to write about.

Suggestions?

schmoopie

busy girl

Piper's new thing is to pull up on everything. She's getting really good at it too.

can't...wait...any...longer

popular

Sometimes I feel like I'm back in middle school and Piper is the super popular girl that I am desperately trying to get the attention of. When she looks my way and gives me a smile I feel like I've made it.

song from that old navy commercial

Freaky video with the clowns, but I like this song.

Sweet song

slow cooker chicken and dumplings

i made this the other night and it was SO good and SO easy.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings
Dump 4 pieces of chicken (I used drumsticks) in the crock pot with about a cup and a half of water, 1 chicken bouillon cube and salt and pepper. Leave it on low for about 5+ hours. Take the chicken out and shred the meat off the bone. Dump the meat back in with a handful of chopped carrots, celery and onions along with a can of cream of chicken soup and turn the crock up to high. Thirty minutes before you are ready to eat, mix up some Bisquick and water (I don't measure it out, I just mix them together until the consistency is wet dough. also, i add a dash of cayenne, salt, pepper and garlic salt b/c i don't know where you get your Bisquick, but where i get mine it doesn't come seasoned. that is an emeril-ism) and place spoonfuls of the dough in the crock. Put the lid on and in less than 30 minutes it is ready.

Boo boo

Piper got her first real goose egg today at school. She was pulling up on a wooden toy chest and lost her balance and hit the edge of the chest on the side of her eye. It looks pretty bad, and I'm sure will turn black and blue. But her teachers said she cried for a bit and then went back to playing. I know I have years of these bumps to come, but seeing my little girl with a big red egg on her face was so sad.

No respect

Poor Sammie. Piper makes a beeline for him whenever she is on the floor. She climbs all over him, pokes him in the eyes, grabs his fur, pulls up on him and rolls over him. He just lies there and takes it until she crawls away and then he hightails it out of the room.

Coldplay mix

what is grosser than gross?

Your precious baby taking a poopie on the carpet in her bedroom (during nakey time), then you returning into the bedroom after you've just bathed her to see the dog eating the poop off the carpet.
GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Needless to say, I've learned my lesson about giving Piper nakey time while in a carpeted area. Also, I'm afraid I won't be able to pet, touch, look at or interact with Samford for awhile longer or until my gag reflex stops reacting every time I see him.

tickle

Bumper carrot crop

Not.

These mofo's spent 2+ months in the ground and impressed me with their big, green, healthy leaves and then I pull them up and uh...yea. And yes, those little tiny orangish colored things are technically carrots.

Auburn University Class of 2030

These two are gonna get in so much trouble together.

Ras Trent

Grandma Darling

I was walking out of class this morning when an older woman zipped in front of me and started hoofing it down the hallway. She was nicely dressed in a blue power suit and heels and her hair was done up in a super nice, old lady style hairdo. I was admiring how well put together she was when it hit me. She had taken about 5 steps ahead of me, which was just enough time for me to walk through a little cloud of her perfume that was drifting off of her as she booked it down the hall. She was wearing Grandma Darling's perfume!
I can't remember the name of the scent, but it hit me like a ton of bricks and I was instantly taken back to sitting next to my wonderful little, tiny Grammy. It was such a sweet, warm feeling to smell that familiar scent and I followed the lady for about 3-4 minutes enjoying the memory.

derm update

I had my first dermatologist appointment for a mole check (i wish there was a better name for that) today. She checked me all over and said everything looked good and not to come back in for another check for 2 years. I asked her about what I could be doing with my skin and she gave me a sample of retin-a and told me to use it 4-5 nights a week and, besides sunscreen, it would be one of the best things I could do for my skin. She said sunscreen, wearing hats in the sun and using retin-a (except during pregnancy) are the top 3 things to do to help your skin as you age. I asked her about microdermabrasion and she said it's not worth it at my age - that I would see enough of a change and that I could look into it in 10+ years.

I've been feeling like a major wrinkle face lately. Not sure if it's me being a bit self-conscious about being the oldest person in my classes or b/c I really have aged a ton over the last 2 years. Regardless, I am looking for new face regimes and I read in one of those free hippie/health magazines that you get at the natural food store that you should use an apple cider/water toner on your face each night before you put on your night cream. The article said apple cider vinegar works as a sort of acid to slough off your top layers of skin. I made up a little bottle of toner with 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar to 2 tablespoons water and I'll see how that works.

Other than that, I wash my face with Dove, wear a hat in the sun, wear sunscreen and night cream and try not to wrinkle my brow.

I want to go to one of the fancy beauty schools in town and get a microdermabrasion or something where I will see a major difference.

Is there anything else I can be doing?

I just had the sweetest night with Piper. Patrick is working late all this month so I'm doing the bedtime routine solo. Around 5:30ish we went for a jog and she zoned out staring at the houses and looking at the birds and trees. We came home and I plopped her in the high chair with a bunch of random food. She sat and played with the food and talked to herself for about 30+ minutes. She was COVERED with banana and avocado. It was so innocent and cute. I scooped her up and we took a mommy+baby bath and she loved it. We cuddled, splashed the soapy, lavender-scented water and nursed. Afterwards I gave her a baby massage, put her in the Halloween pj's, zipped her up in her sleep sac, placed her in her crib and never heard another peep. She is such a sweet googie.

Behold

Today my friends, I have accomplished a huge goal. A roadblock in my life has been cleared. My soul is free from the weight of a task which seemed impossible for so many years. I am now a dove, flying high above my self doubts.

I have made
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the perfect loaf of homemade bread.

7 months of babyhood

Some thoughts on Piper and parenthood:

• cloth diapering gets harder as the baby gets more wiggly. i'd like to just use disposables but now i feel guilty since i have the diapers.
• making your own baby food is really fun. it's sorta relaxing to find some new fruit/veggie, peel it, slice it, steam it, mush it, package it up and then see her enjoy it later in the week.
• i am so glad we put her on a sleep schedule. she goes to sleep so easily. we just plop her in the crib and she talks to her stuffed animals friends and then drifts off.
• a friend called me last night for some breastfeeding help for her newborn. i couldn't believe that i was the one getting a phone call when it seemed like just yesterday it was me with the bleeding, sore (oh gawd the soreness) boobies. btw, my friends baby was 2 oz below his birth weight at his 4 week checkup..yikes!
• when i was talking to my friend i found myself telling her the exact same things SA and Xta told me when I was 3 weeks postpartum. how it gets so much easier at 6 weeks, then 12 weeks. how breastfeeding will get so much easier. going out and running errands will be no problem really soon. the baby will be sleeping through the night with no problems in just a few weeks. i remember them telling me all of that and i was all "uh, i'm 3 weeks postpartum and you are telling me that things don't get real easy for another 9 weeks?" but in a blink of an eye you are at 7.5 months postpartum and it's second nature.
• being away from piper part-time is perfect for me. i love the opportunity to have some "me time" and to learn and work on a personal goal. but i'm still there by lunchtime to get her, nurse her and put her down for her afternoon nap. besides when i have a full class load in nursing school i don't ever want to work full time until our children are much older.
• patrick and i are definitely in our parental groove now. we are getting much more one-on-one time with each other now and feel like we have our own little gender roles with her.
• it is amazing how fast you go through baby stuff. it seems like basically all baby items are useful for about 3 months and then the baby outgrows it/gets bored of it. if SA and Christa and I all lived in the same town we would literally never have to buy any baby stuff...it could just get rotated around until the item falls apart.
• the breastfeeding weight loss thing has finally caught up to me and all my clothes are getting really big on me. toot toot!!! i only have one pair of jeans that i can wear now without having to cinch the waist up like crazy.
• speaking of breastfeeding: having a baby who is all excited about her newly found sense of motion is both adorable and scary when you are nursing. now piper likes to nurse and practice rocking back and forth at the same time and it makes me feel like a human milk machine. the days of her lying still while she nurses are gone as well as all nerve endings in my boobs from her ripping her head off the boobie to look around.
• whatever i'm choosing to worry about/obsessive about regarding piper has a 1 week lifespan before i move on to the next issue. i was worried she wasn't into eating solids and i was starting to imagine her going to preschool with mushed baby food and in the last 48 hours she's been ALL into solid foods (broccoli florets, pulled pork, cheerios, peaches, shredded cheese) and so whew, i'm done with that and now i'll move on to something else.
• we applied for piper's passport today and it still blew my mind to sign my name to her application and list "mother" next to it. thankful isn't a word big enough for how i feel.

inspiration needed

(Besides the windows that I desperately want in our back family room) I've been wanting to cozy up our back porch since we moved into this house 2 years ago.

We have such a great backyard and we love to sit out there in the morning and watch the fog (I guess it's fog? steam? heat?) in the park and then in the evenings watch the geese honk and fly in (a gaggle!) while the park is full of little league games and dog walkers.

BUT, our furniture sucks and is old and uncomfortable. I have no inspiration at all. I just know that I want to go and buy a bunch of expensive, comfy furniture with colorful, pretty pillows and lounge on it all day while I read People magazine and drink coke and eat cheetos. But that's not going to happen because I'm cheap, if I drink anything other than water it might be diet coke and well, the cheetos thing...that would probably happen.

We get 100% sun all day long on the back porch, so we need something that can withstand the sun, won't mildew and won't take up the whole porch. I think I'm gonna try and sell the wrought iron furniture (that I got for $200 from a thrift store 2 years ago) we have now and try and piece something together through craigslist and garage sales.

Any suggestions?

guilty pleasure

I can't stop watching The Girls Next Door on E! It is so horrible and hilarious. I mean, Hugh Hefner is so old and disgusting. Each scene shows him shuffling around the mansion in his pj's and he looks like he's gonna croak any minute. And his main girlfriend Holly calls him "Puffin Boo" which makes me laugh out loud because it is so redonkulous.

Mix tape!

the sweetest thing

I am SO THANKFUL for this. Artwork! Done by my own baby!

weekend review

This weekend pretty much revolved 110% around Piper having a fever and feeling bad. When she felt bad we were all VERY unhappy about it. And when she felt good, we were all VERY happy about it. It's funny how your day is completely dictated by how the little person is feeling. Which in our case works out well since Piper is always a happy girl. But this weekend things were different.

Patrick spent pretty much all of Saturday wearing Piper. She was super clingy which was really sweet and cute and also a pain in the back.

Splashing in the tub.

Checking out the fascinating male/female lawn lady next door. Affectionately known in our house as the Shemale.

Playing on our bed. Her favorite spot to roll around and try and crawl. Which she seems so close to doing by the way.

Our bedroom is feeling so cozy now. Mom came and worked her magic on the room, rearranging furniture and wall hangings. We put up a huge mirror that I found on the side of the road (and repainted a really nice, glossy black) and it opens up the whole room. I really love the room now.

Pop Pop

Piper and Pop Pop. Maclay Gardens State Park, September 2008.

I adore my parents. Driving out of their driveway this past weekend Patrick noted that I wasn't crying. "Up until about a year ago you use to always cry when we left your parents house." I did. I just love and adore them so much. They are so fun, entertaining, loving, giving, attentive, present. And they are wild about their granddaughters...all 5 of them.

In my Human Growth and Development class we do so much talking about how infants and children develop. If you do this, then they will turn out depressed. If you do that, then they will turn out with trust issues and low self-esteem. Gah, it stresses me out. I'm trying to just ignore it and just have fun with the little googie because she is at such a fun, interactive, cuddly stage right now.

why?

why must you taste so good?

you are fake and fattening, but i love you.

I adore him

Sweet, hilarious, loving, anal (he does not like being called that), predictable/unpredictable, likes boring elevator-like jazz music, keeps me on my toes, hardworking, the sweetest father, very lame magazine reader (CFO, Accounting Magazines, Wall Street Journal), pack rat, comfy, reminds me to slow down and relax, warm, proud, falls asleep on the couch almost every night, cute, supports me in anything, my partner, could live off of snickers and slim-jims, bff, co-captain.

116

I went to the midwife today for my yearly exam and when I hopped on the scale I was surprised that it said I was 116. That means I'm 1 pound away from my goal of 115 pounds. I like being 115 - it's not too skinny and my clothes fit me best at that weight. I guess the breastfeeding is helping since I haven't been doing anything other than eating healthy and jogging in the evening. Score!

society

I've been listening to this song non-stop and while it does make me sorta sad, the lyrics are so great. I wish I could remember some of these lyrics when I get that itch to keep up with the jones'.

Society
It's a mystery to me
we have a greed with which we have agreed
You think you have to want more than you need
until you have it all you won't be free
society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me
When you want more than you have, you think you need,
and when you think more than you want, your thoughts begin to bleed
I think I need to find a bigger place
'cos when you have more than you think
you need more space
society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me
society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me
there's those thinking more or less
less is more but if less is more how you're keeping score?
Means for every point you make your level drops
kinda like its starting from the top
you can't do that...
society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely without me
society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me
society, have mercy on me
I hope you're not angry if I disagree
society, crazy and deep
I hope you're not lonely without me.

Googie

Piper came home from school in her poopie outfit today. Too cute. Six months is SO fun. We both agree that she is so much more interactive and attentive and cuddly and fun now.

Every once in awhile I get an itch to move somewhere super hip. I rarely feel this way because I like our little life here in Jax. But whenever I visit Christa in SF it makes me want to pick up and move there. And visiting SA in Ann Arbor made me want to be in a more hip, college town. But then I come home and sit on our backporch with P and look out at our little park and think about all our friends who are just a few blocks away, and my parents just a few hours over and it reminds me of how homey and comfortable we are here.
Today one of our friends was complaining about Jacksonville and how lame it is and how if she moves away for a few years to take a new job that she can always come back "and everyone will be doing the same thing." This person isn't married, no kids and is still very much searching. I don't think she meant for it to sound harsh, but it sorta was. It made me think about how everyone is always searching for that super cool, different, hip road in life. We all have to have this wild, great story about what we do (cheese buyer for Whole Foods [my pick for awesome job], event planner in NYC, clothing designer) and all the places we've gone and the outrageous plans we have for the next year. There are all these destinations (Colorado, California, NYC,etc) that are the cool places to be and life will be so much more hip, rich, awesome if only we lived there. (Side note: I remember that when I was graduating from AU how everyone said they were moving to Colorado after graduation. It was totally the popular thing to do and when asked what their plans were after graduation, like 9 out of 10 people would say they were moving to Colorado. I don't think even half of them actually did.)
What's so wrong with being happy and content in our sweet house, taking walks around the neighborhood, setting down roots so that we have friends who love and rely on us, getting involved in our neighborhood, being thankful that we can afford to own a little piece of earth? I don't want to sound like a fun hater, and there's nothing wrong with dreaming big and doing fanastic stuff - I definitely have lots of fanastic stuff I plan on doing - but what's so bad with being happy and content with a simple, happy life?

And to be totally honest with myself, perhaps I'm just writing this to remind myself of all of this.

9/11

I can't believe its been 7 years since September 11. Patrick and I were living in Charleston, SC and were getting ready to move. We had sold off all our furniture to a College of Charleston exchange student and were sleeping in a sleeping bag in our living room. All that was left in the room was a big rug, our tv and our sleeping bag and I woke up that morning, reached up and turned the tv on to the TODAY show and laid back down. The first plane had already struck the first tower and I was so confused about what I was seeing. I nugged Patrick next to me and he woke up and watched with me. As it unfolded and the towers eventually fell I seriously started to lose it. When both towers fell I remember Katie Couric saying "we can only imagine the amount of lives that are being lost right now." There was so much misinformation coming across the tv at that point and we were being told one minute that there were 20,000 people in the towers and the next minute we were told that everyone got out safely. I remember seriously starting to panic - there were thousands of people in those towers and there was no way they were making it out. I just couldn't fathom or believe what we were watching with our own eyes take place. We could hear plane taking off from the Charleston air force base and zooming over our apartment. I remember having a real, honest fear that a bomb was going to fall on our city. I called my family and I remember my mom was really awkwardly calm, Sue Anne was visiting in Tallahassee and definitely understood the magnitude of what was going on. She was freaking and was calling the Red Cross to try and volunteer. Christa was living in Atlanta. I don't remember her reactions but I remember talking to her and being so nervous since Atlanta was a big city and they were saying on the tv that it could be a possible target. I vividly remember talking to my dad and I could hear the tension/fear/confusion in his voice. He kept saying "my god sweet thing, i just can't believe this is happening..." When my dad is nervous that makes me really nervous.
I remember the months and months of heart wrenching stories that came out about the people who died. I went to Ground Zero once when I was visiting Sue Anne and Jason in NYC. It was so moving to be there and see it with my own eyes.

Today I am so thankful for my family and our safety.

garden girl

We surprised Patrick by meeting him at the Cummer Museum http://www.cummer.org/ tonight after work. I love to walk the garden grounds there and try and get ideas for our yard. They were showcasing a new local artist in the museum who had tons of gorgeous paintings of Jacksonville and around Avondale. There were a ton of portraits of homes right down the street from us.

I had my first test in A&P today and it was pretty nerve wracking. I so hope I did well..I'll really be crushed if I didn't.

Pip is doing so great in her new school. The teachers are SO sweet and nice. Today when I picked her up Mrs. Pat asked me to bring in a family picture of all of us for next week b/c the babies will be talking about their families, what they mean to them, etc. uh...that is adorable and hilarious at the same time, seeing how they don't talk! I feel really good having her there and really appreciate the time I have to myself. My parents are coming in town this weekend to visit and see Piper eat real people food for the first time! I'm gonna make her some squash and avocado to try out. It's gonna be so cute.

I'm looking forward to getting a date night in with P while they are here too. I always feel totally refreshed and renewed after having good quality time with him.

P Diddy

Love this picture of him. See me?

swinging

First time in a swing. Patrick and I were much more excited than Pip.

Six Months!

Our sweet girl is six months old. I can not believe how fast time is flying.

Pipster,

I'm struggling with the whole cheeseball factor of having a blog and now here I am writing a letter to you, which just seems so dorky.

I wish I could send the 10 year-old, 15 year-old or 20 year-old you a letter and send it off into the future for you to read when maybe I'm not your most favorite person and you are dealing with major teenage gangst (your MeMe's word, not mine) and feeling all frustrated and awkward. I wish I could let the future you know just how much I love you.

Tonight I was unpacking groceries in the kitchen and you were playing in your exersaucer and I was singing along to some music (Paolo Nutini) and I looked over at you and you were watching me so closely and when we caught eyes you gave me the most gigantic, toothless smile I've ever seen. It was almost as if you hadn't seen me in days and just realized I was back. It made my heart open up and fall on the floor. I scooped you up and we danced together in the kitchen and you laughed a big, hearty, belly laugh and grabbed my hair in your stubby little palm and held on to me like a little monkey. I wish you knew how much your being you, and being here and being a little living, eating, breathing miracle has healed me. Each loss we suffered chipped away at my heart until finally I had a gaping hole that hurt so much and made me wonder why, why, why. I remember telling Christa once that I felt like I had an invisible sack of sadness strapped to my back (not my metaphor but Kristen Armstrong's. I read it in one of her articles once and thought that summed it up well) that no matter what I couldn't release. She told me that once I had my little baby it would all be gone but I didn't believe her. Turns out, she was right. You slipped into our lives and healed all the hurt that your Dad and I went through to have you. Every single second with you is such a miracle because I seriously, deep down, started to lose faith and worried I would never have these types of moments. I do wonder about those other little souls that we lost, but Dad and I agreed that in some way they all were you - but you were just choosing your perfect time to make your grand appearance. I can't (but I do) wonder why that all had to happen because there are too many wonderful moments to have with you and there's just not enough time to think about stuff that we'll never be able to figure out.

(Besides your Daddy) I think you are the most fantastic, wonderful, hilarious and perfect little being in the whole world. I can't go anywhere with you without being stopped several times by people wanting to look at you, touch your sweet, rosy cheeks and comment "My goodness, is she always this happy?" "Wow, I've never seen a baby smile so big!" "She is gorgeous!" You are a beauty and I love your little potato body - a gigantic belly with little stick legs and arms. You are loving to roll around and have us hold you up so you can practice standing on your little legs. Your Dad loves to cuddle you and give you your evening bottle and bath time. He treasures you so much and would do anything to have more time with you. You light up when he comes in the room and you love to watch him and wait to catch his eyes so you can give him a huge smile.

You are such a gift and a joy and a million wonderful things all wrapped up in a tiny, squeaking pink little bundle.

xoxo

It has been raining SO much here that the entire yard and neighborhood is covered in spider webs. groooooooooooooooooooss. I regularly walk into about 5 webs a day and it's making me so paranoid that I have spiders crawling on me.

I'm heading to Gainsville for two nights to hang with Patrick. He's there for this entire month (ugh) for work and has been commuting home each night. The drive is an hour and 15 minutes and has been getting old for him, so Pipsqueak and I are gonna go spend a few nights with him so he doens't have to make that drive home. I'm not looking forward to having to lounge in the hotel room (no computer!) while Piper sleeps in the afternoon, but maybe I'll read, watch tv, talk on the phone. I was thinking I would bring a yoga DVD but there's no DVD player.

Patrick's dad/step mom come in town Friday morning through Sunday night. Then Monday morning Crissy and I are planning to drive down to New Smyrna Beach to see Clair and her family and then Tuesday I leave for Ann Arbor to visit the Bell's!! Fun!

I toured the DLC Nurse and Learn Daycare yesterday. I'm at the end of my rope for finding a place to put her part-time. Finding a place to put a 5 month-old is tough and then on top of that we need to be able to put her in part-time and to afford it. A friend of mine recommend DLC and has her 6 month-old in it and loves it. It's a daycare for developmentally disabled children, but they also take "typical" children as well. It's right in Murray Hill, Patrick could drop off Piper on the way to work, it's $250/month part-time (9am - 3pm M-F) and I got a really sweet, comfortable, loving vibe from it. Now the downfall - it is a dump. The bushes are overgrown, the sign that says DLC is flaking off and looks like crap, the parking lot has a chain link fence around it and it is pretty dumpy looking. I like to think it's like the birthing center - I went from Dr.Winslow's super swanky office to the birth center's dumpy, frumpy office - as far as looks it was nothing to write home about, but it was a wonderful place for us. If it works out to put Piper there (they are checking to see if they have room in the infant room starting in Sept), I'll probably only have her there until she's 1 and then I'll move her to a Mother's Morning Out. And hopefully Crissy and I can have Avery and Piper in the same MMO so we can share pick-up/drop-off duties.

And yes, I did cry when I left the DLC tour. Just a few tears. I don't wanna leave my little googie.

It's early morning and Piper just went down for her first nap of the day. I can hear her lying in her bed babbling to herself and I think it just might be the most beautiful sound I've ever heard.

It's sorta awkward starting this blog and trying to figure out what to write about. I thought it would be cool to start this to post pictures and to try and make some sort of documentation of this wonderful, fun, exciting, strange and shifting time in my life. I feel compelled to come up with something witty and clever, but really the only people probably reading are Christa, Wannie, Lisa and Patrick and they would read right though that anyways. So I'll just try and be myself.


The new garden (known as Garden B) outside our family room window on a rainy day this week. The bush beans are coming in great and right next to them are little tiny collard green sprouts that look hopeful too. yea!

I have a stye on my left eye and it is so annoying. Not sure what caused it, and it doesn't hurt or anything but it is so annoying in a cosmetic way. We went to a pool party yesterday and everyone was staring at my eye and I could tell they were trying to figure out what it was.

We had a nice weekend, but it went by too quick. Sleeping in (sorta), trip to Costco (we went for groceries, but I want a laptop), pool party at a friend's house (her freaky ass dog was all up in our business and I felt like he was gonna bite someone and it made me really nervous), cleaning up around the house, some yard work (too hot to be outside during the day) and we had some friends over for a glass of wine.

I got into the master gardener course and I so want to take it, but I just don't think I can do it all. I feel like I would be a stress case if I took part-time classes, continued being a good wifey to Patrick, good mommy to Pip, took the master gardener course from 9-3pm each Wednesday, did all the shizenit that I usually do to keep Lynchburg running and tried to be good to myself. It is very clear that I can't take the course, but I just don't want to admit it. I had grand visions of myself walking my yard looking at bugs and being able to tell what they were, what they were eating, how to get rid of them and how to keep them from coming back. I would be a wealth of info on all things horticulture and would be rocking an awesome garden with loads and loads of veggies. I'm going to ask if I can defer the course for a year, but I know deep down that this time next year I will probably be even more busy since *hopefully* I'll be starting the nursing program full-time.

Oh well, everything always works out. Wissy always says that and it's always been true. I just want it all.

Pip watching Baby Einstein on youtube for the first time:

I'm officially registered for a Tuesday and Thursday morning Anatomy and Physiology class for the fall semester. I'm adding on a Human Growth and Development class as well. I'm excited and nervous and not sure if I'm making the right decision...but I am trusting myself that this is the path I want to be on right now. You know, that sounds all hippy dippy...really I'm just sorta winging it and just taking these classes and hoping I'm not making a huge mistake.

Since life will be changing a lot with me taking part-time classes in a month, I'm trying to take advantage of all the time I have with Piper now. I want to just sit and play and look at her. But uh....that gets kinda boring after a while since a 5 month-old isn't much of a conversationalist.

Patrick is working in Gainsville all this month. He's been commuting this week which is such a pain for him, but he swears he doesn't mind. He leaves at 7am and doesn't get home till 7:30pm.

My big girl at her 5 month check up:

Master Gardener

I interviewed for the Master Gardener position today. I'm excited about lots of potential stuff I have on my plate now and if I get accepted into the class...great! I'd love to learn more about gardening, plants, vegetables, rainbarrels, etc. If I don't get accepted...meh, it's fine. I'm already busy.

The interview was pretty relaxed and random - one question was "Do you have experience working with people?" Who doesn't??

Piper seemed a bit fussy today which totally stressed me out. Crissy watched her while I was at the interview and she cried the whole time. Then I dropped her off at Mothers Morning Out and when I went back to get her she had pitiful little red eyes and was being held by the sitters and was crying her little eyes out.

I just want to make sure I'm doing all the "right" things with her - stimulating her with fun stuff, letting her have fun interaction with people/babies, entertaining her, helping her to roll over, etc. I need to trust in myself as a mother and most importantly as the mother that little Pip was meant to have. I need to remember that I am doing the best I can and that she appreciates and loves me and is already perfect.

Growth

I already see some sprouts from my bush beans! I just planted them 3 days ago! So exciting. I think it's from all the rain we've been having.

We have the Malloy's coming tomorrow and we are so excited. It's gonna be fun having all the kids together.

I love this picture of Piper and Avery, can't wait till they are really playing together. They are gonna get into so much trouble together.

Sunday

We had a sweet, relaxing day Sunday. Naps, working in the yard, errands and a walk through the park.

Pipsqeak is getting so big and doing so much more now. She is getting close to the phase where she holds on to us like a little monkey. Right now it's more like she is bobbling around grabbing our hair while we hold her close.

I planted Purple Queen Bush Beans and Collards in the new garden. I'm crossing my fingers that we see some action from them in a few weeks.

The Pipster

She is so fantastic. We love our little googie so much.