Baby Tuesday

According to my laptop, it's exactly 4:00 AM. I've been up since 2:30 with you-know-who. She's all wound up. We're watching the news and she's doing a little dance in her carrier every few moments at the screen and keeps kicking off her blanket. Neither is a sign of sleepiness.
But she's not crying, and that's fine with me.


I almost didn't put this one on here. But her cuteness trumped the less than flattering nostril shot.


Flail flail flail! This is pretty close to what she's doing now actually.
Note the little purple plastic cricket next to her, courtesy of Ebay.

'Love the peruvian baby hat that kevin's aunt and uncle brought back from llama land.


I loved this outfit. 'Pity she kicked off one of these shoes while we were shopping. Maybe I'll bronze the other one.

The Odd Couple

I've had this picture of my dogs in my head for a while. They quibble like Felix and Oscar and if I had known they'd turn out like this, I might have named them that.

Don't point that finger at me unless you intend to use it. -Oscar Madison

Speaking of pets, I'm a goof and installed a virtual pink llama on my sideline. I'm sure I'll soon get bored with Guillermo and have to surrender him at the local livestock shelter. Pet him while he's here.

sniffle

This made me cry.

Go [a). scream b). fight c). barf] It On The Mountain

I remember getting a Christmas tree as a kid, and it was always accompanied by arguing and angst. I'm not sure what made my mom so tense, but the whole operation was executed like necessary visit to the GYN doctor.
Last year, I thought those stressful tree days were behind me. I traveled with Kevin's family up into the mountains to their traditional tree farm, cut down our own perfect tree, carted it back and happily planted it in our living room. No fights, no strife, riding in the back of a 1987 Dodge Caravan was my only complaint.
This year, the wheels came off.
Here were the players on the field:
Me, Kevin, Mojito, Franklin, Cricket, mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law-- that's 2 dogs, 1 baby, and four in laws.
We took two cars, and the car ride up was nice. I didn't even mind how unbelievably far we had to drive up winding mountain roads to get to the trees-- but Mojito did.
Who knew dogs get car sick? If any dog is sensitive enough to get queasy, it's my chihua-chshund. Luckily he didn't barf on me, he barfed on the vinyl seat, but I still had to mop up the regurgitated kibbles. Here's a photo of Mojito giving me the look of "please let me out.":

When we got out of the car, it became clear that I did not come prepared. No gloves, no baby hat or pacifier and no bjorn pouch. Crap. The dogs went nutz with all the people milling around and all the trees to pee on.
And as for the perfect tree, that idea went out the window. When he asked "what kind do you want?" I replied "a close one."




Kevin carried Cricket until he had to cut the tree down. After that hand off to Grandma, she cried for over an hour, straight through. It was unbelivable. So loud, especially when you're trapped in a car.
Scream scream scream down the mountain. Even after we got home and I fed her, she still was inconsolable. As we were trying to set the tree up-- cry cry cry.
I'm going add that to the top of my list of holiday spirit killers, along with drunken relatives, and political arguments- the screaming baby.

one of these things is not like the other

Which one of these people sticks out?
No, no, not the Vietnamese-aunt-in-law, you'd think so, but no.
Give you a hint: "moon-face"
That's right, it's me.
Highlights of Thanksgiving include: stuffed mushrooms, llamas on DVD, and a baby that slept through dinner.


Cricket's little Thanksgiving outfit, courtesy of Aunt Dianne, everyone loved it. After I took this photo we put on her little baby tights and baby Ugz (thanks Becky), you can see the full ensemble in the group shot if you squint.

only you can prevent Jingle Bells

I've been compiling my favorite Christmas songs on iTunes to make my own personal Ultimate Christmas Album. (*Not available in stores, call now!*)
Here's what I have so far.

Poignant Songs:
Celebrate Me Home - Kenny Loggins
Christmas by the Bay - Tim Hockenberry
Mary Did You Know? - Kathy Mattea
O Holy Night - Kelly Clarkson**
Welcome to Our World - Chris Rice
Go Tell It on the Mountain - The Swan Silvertones

Fun Songs:
All I Want for Christmas is You - Mariah Carey
Here Comes Santa Claus - Elvis Presley
I Want and Alien For Christmas - Fountains of Wayne
Man in the Santa Suit - Fountains of Wayne

I can't think of any other really good ones but I bet you can. I'm asking for suggestions. If you're considering voting for Jingle Bells or The Christmas Shoes-- shame on you.


**What? She does a good job!

Chickies Home Journal

This was my monday night meal. Thank you, thank you very much.


Check it out, all the black boxes go away when I close the door! Hooray! This closet didn't exist before. And now it brings me so much happiness!
Now I just have to paint that nasty patched part on the corner. I think the drywall guy got a little over zealous with the plaster.

Baby Tuesday

Her dedication outfit. The little onesie says "His little lamb" and has a, you guessed it, a little felt lamb stitched on it. 

Ta da! "I love it, Mom, finally I got some style!" 

Recognize this shot? She's sleepin in my spot. (No, we don't do the "family bed" thing, she just naps in there when she falls asleep after breakfast #1) 

Maybe *she* didn't drink it, but I'll bet her next meal had a hint of Cricket Cola. 

We do this alot during the day, she and I. Tidying is one of her favorite activites. Note the bug pants. Later Mojito unearthed those little pants and brought them back to his dog lair where Kevin found them before they met their end. (btw, this is *not* a good photo of me, but I'm too lazy to cut my goofy face out of it) 

The world should have more purple sweater blankets. 

Christmas is right around the corner, why not sport a Bethlehem look with your baby this season? 

shroud series 2 

the search is over

It took me longer than I anticipated to find the "perfect Christmas cards," but finally I found it
And then, I saw that there was more from this company!
Now, I don't know which ones to choose!

lets see if this works

We had Cricket dedicated this morning at church and I wanted to show what Sam recorded of it. However that was too big to put on comcast, so I just uploaded the tiny recording of us walking off the stage.

the precious

Nothing to do with Lord of the Rings, but lots to do with sonries de latinos.
I'm not even the least bit hispanic, I'm as white as a Hostess Sno-ball, but I think I like 92.3.
It's not the Mexican polka music that I usually associate with Mexican radio. What I've gathered is that it's "oldies" or maybe "viejitos," I dunno. But if I don't try, I can't tell what they're singing about, or even what they're advertising for. It's like being on vacation, the music is happy, and you don't have to stress about a broken heart or where to buy your car (because you don't understand.)
Me gusta! Y soy una guera!

Do you have your own cola?

My baby does!
I opened up the drink kooler at our volunteer project and found Cricket Cola!
It's green tea cola, but it's good, tastes like R.C. I'm worried that people won't like it and it'll go out of business before she's old enough to drink it. :)
For all those who think her name is too weird, last I checked, there's no Caitlyn Cola or Kirsten Kola, so there!

if a big mac was divided into little blue nuggets

I think it was about five years ago when I first saw the chocolate covered blueberry.
I, being a huge fan of chocolate covered cherries, was naturally drawn to them. I believe it was in a starbucks while waiting in line when I reached for a box and saw the price. It must have been over four dollars because I put it back. And ever since then I've seen them and said "oh chocolate blueberries!-- no, too expensive."
Thinking back, it wasn't like I was on food stamps, I don't know why I would pay 4 dollars for a mocha, but not on something I really wanted.
But today! when I saw a tiny bag in the impulse section of the check out at Michaels, I swooped because they were two dollars!
They were totally worth the wait, I ate the whole bag (24 berries) in about 15 minutes. They were even worth the weight too because I saw that a whole bag will run you 18 grams of fat.
Mmm chocolate blueberry fat.
The holiday indulgence season has officially begun! Bring on the stuffing!

Baby Tuesday

Cricket was officially 2 months old on Sunday. We had her check-up yesterday and she's doin good. 75th percentile for weight, and 95th for length.
Now on to the photos...


another dinner plate left out 

Everyone's smiling in this picture, even the Carl's Jr star cup! 

My favorite of this set-- toothless grin. 

Fi-ga-rro! 

watchin' TV 

Big star cup- check. 

Ok, not a baby. It's a Mojito. But look how cute! Kevin picked him up like this off of his lap as not to disturb his snuggled position. 

Again, dogs. I decided to give in and move an old couch out from the back room into the living room, but it was too heavy to move by myself. So I took the cushions off to plan where I wanted to put it. I leave the room, and less than 60 seconds later, the dogs have appropriated the cushions as dog beds.