Golfing ballerina and more...

One can only wonder

I took the girls to the very small neighborhood park this afternoon. While walking across the parking lot, I noticed the following items strewn about:

A white lace garter
Pieces of what appeared to be a French maid costume
A condom

Whether they are all connected is up to the imagination.

Amusement

I just heard one of the contributors to this blog interviewed on NPR; I checked it out and it's too funny (she says as she writes on her new MacBook Pro- see Item #40). And #44!

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/

Meals for the Week

In an effort to save money and improve our diets, I try to plan out all our meals for the week each week before I do my weekly grocery shopping. The problem is I always write the meals down on the same paper as my shopping list, which gets thrown away. So then I end up forgetting what I had planned and I find myself staring at the fridge trying to remember what I bought and why. This week I'm posting it here so I won't forget.

Mon: Chicken tacos (with chicken meat leftover from last night's dinner), beans, rice
Tues: Pesto pasta with sun-dried tomatoes, salad
Weds: Lasagna with salad
Thurs: Leftovers
Fri: Garden burgers and oven fries

The weekend ... we have a gift certificate to a local pizza joint....

Better today

The weather is gorgeous today so Lucy and I went for a walk (check out her ride). My grandma (Lucy's great grandma) knit the hat she's wearing in the picture.

No doubt spring is on her way. There were daffodils are in bloom and there are birds chirping everywhere! Our lawn is still brown though- I hope it's not permanent.


In other news, we've been using mostly cloth diapers but they were all dirty this morning so I was using sposies. Well, just to report, the three disposable diapers I used resulted in three changes of outfits due to leaks.

In a funk?

Maybe it's just the baby blues, but I haven't had very much energy/vitality lately. Actually, I think I'm just feeling a little isolated. I don't have a lot of interactions with people throughout the day. I am staying plenty busy with chores, but I do feel lonely.

I don't know any stay at home moms in my area who would be free during the day for a walk or a cup of coffee. There is a La Leche League group here and a "mommy and me" group but both of these only meet once per month. There are some play groups, but I have a one month old, and I know I have to go back to work so I can't really participate long term.

What I really want to do is get busy finding a job elsewhere and moving closer to family and friends. That is my long term goal. I want it to happen this year so I'm going to try to do one thing every day to get closer to the goal. Step one is to find a job for Matt or myself so I'm going to start looking and sending out CVs.

Why is being a grown up so hard?

Picture post

Here is Lucy at one month old, and weighing in at 10 lbs. Wow!

Big sister Mollie helping out

Mollie loves hearts. Need I say more?

Things that drive me crazy

A high school friend and I have been keeping a list (since high school) of all the things that make us happy. The list is long. This is good. We call it the happy list.

However, there are a lot of things that drive me crazy. I need to get a few of these off my chest- a not-so-happy list, if you will. Apologies if these offend; they are not directed at anyone in particular.

- Plurals that use "z". Like "girlz" or "bratz".
- How our culture encourages little girls to grow up so fast.
- Pre-made cookie dough.
- People who treat their dogs like children. Animals don't need birthday gifts, portraits, clothes. (Okay, I realize it makes some PEOPLE happy to do this for their pets. But... it drives me nuts.)
- Consumerism (I fall into this trap myself sometimes...)

Feel free to add to the list.

Swamp things

Ready, set... go!

Little Miss Sassy

Beautiful sky and swamp tree

Daddy and Lucy (in the Bjorn)

Since the weather was so nice, we took a visit to the swamp. We have to avoid that place when it gets TOO hot. Mollie had a great time running around as long as we said, "Ready, set, go!" She got a little tired at the end but walked the whole way back to the car (while asking to be carried).

Lucy is growing like a weed...

Well trained...

Matt did VERY well with the Valentine flowers this year! Don't know why but I really like lavender roses. Not a whole bouquet of them, but a few thrown in. Lovely!

A good read?

Thanks to Auntie Liv for sending me this book review on "How to Train a Husband."

I particularly liked this part about how the author puts chips and salsa on the other side of the room to keep her husband from "hovering" while she's cooking!

I love this technique! It also works with 4 year olds and stickers...

I'll add this to my "Books to Read" list.

My valentines

Here are my little valentines....














Matt, your picture came out too goofy to publish, but you are my big valentine!


Happy V Day to far away friends and family!

Close call

The girls' uncle Sam had a close call in Iraq this morning when the humvee he was traveling in was hit by an IED. Thank goodness he and the rest of the soldiers are fine. Hugs to auntie Liv- I know it must have been a scary phone call to receive.

All alone

My parents were visiting last week and they left today (I am still teary). Between their visit and Matt's parents' visit, we haven't been alone since Lucy's birth. We are really going to miss the help (especially the cooking). Tonight it's leftovers, but tomorrow is a complete unknown.

Bottles and pumps

I remember from Mollie's baby days that I shouldn't wait too long before giving Lucy and occasional bottle. Not wanting to miss the "window of opportunity", I pumped some milk today and, at just shy of 3 weeks, Lucy took her first bottle. Seemed to work out fine- it was a Sassy MAM bottle . The only problem is that it reminds me that I will have to go back to work some day... and the weeks are passing like days around here.

Update: Lucy also loves the good old Playtex Drop-ins with the slow flow nipple. So... we'll stick with those since we have a bunch of them and they are not as "complicated" as the Sassy bottles.

A Birthday

Lucy P. joined our family two weeks ago! She was born after a few short hours of labor and surprised us by how quickly she arrived. The doc barely made it to the delivery room before Lucy.

We are so pleased to have another little girl in our family and big sister Mollie is happy too (although somewhat moody).

It's hard to believe we're now a family of 4. Flying is never going to be easy. We can't really fit any other passengers in our "big" car (Honda CR-V). "Free time" is nearly non-existent.

I can't imagine (and I fear the day) I have to go back to work. It makes me teary to even think about it. My mom asked me if I missed work at all.... um, no way! I need to pick up some tax paperwork and I've been avoiding even going into the lab for the 5 min I need to do that....

We are beginning to adjust to the big changes but life is far from "normal." However tired we may be, we are so thankful for a healthy, beautiful baby girl!