Naturally Optimistic

Life has been busy - April just about killed me. Let's see...there was a girls' getaway weekend, a big project I've been working on for a friend's company; an art show that I had to make inventory for (which I sold none of); a 1st birthday party to plan for & have; Easter; business taxes to complete.....yeah, there was a lot of stuff. Oh and finishing up RILEY. Whew. I am glad it's May. Unfortunately, I just realized it was May & it's half over already. Ah well. We did get a new camera with our tax refund. It's awesome. I can't wait to play with it some more...Maybe that'll spruce things up on this blog! OH! And I forgot my Blogiversary! 7 years! Crazy.

I've been AWOL lately - too much to do, not enough time to sit & play on the computer. Ah well.... What have I done in the past two weeks? I have no idea. I cannot remember that far back. I think we probably ate some meals, went hiking in Chester, visited a corn maze, dealt with a fussy in-pain baby, wrangled a toddler. The usual. This week has been full of doctor's appts. Monday I took August in to have an upper GI. I was dreading it as I couldn't feed him after 4am. This kid still eats every 1 1/2 -2 hours so yeah...the appt was at 8:15. Well, he did great! He was in such a good mood. Super smiley, laughing & charming all the people in the radiology dept. He wasn't super cooperative with the whole drinking the barium thing but we got him to drink just about 1oz which thankfully was enough. The good news - they didn't find anything anatomically wrong with him - no twisted esophagus or funky stomach connections. The bad news - there's nothing to 'fix...

GAH I'm behind on posting. I know! I was reprimanded by someone today (you know who you are) because I haven't posted yet about some BIG NEWS!! The first big news is that when I was in Los Angeles, Dahlia took her first all-by-herself steps while at her Grandma B's! Eeek! Now since then I've seen her take a couple, she took more for my Mom when we were in Longville last weekend...and since then? Not so much...but the important thing is, it has begun. At long last. The other big news - DAHLIA HAS A TOOTH! And what I mean by "has" is, is that it is just breaking through - I mean, it's through just not very far. Very exciting! That was discovered last Thursday, much to my shock. I always am checking but til now hadn't ever found anything! Might have explained why she was a BEAR last week. Poor thing. Now I'm checking regularly for more breakthroughs...none as of yet. I was at my folks' house this weekend and went through some of my old things (ay ...

It's been a little light in the posting department lately - I will try to get back on track here soon. So...here's my May in a nutshell: Chris & Michelle's fabulous wedding & reception : Mother's Day with Miss Dahlia & Steve at the zoo: Dahlia posing with dahlias at the nursery. A trip made with BOTH Grandmas in tow. Dahlia's trip to the farm with her ECFE class. The first margarita night of the season with Anna (Hi Anna!). Dahlia in her BIG GIRL car seat...she loves facing forward. Hanging out at the Dresden Room in LA with friends. They have a house drink there called "Blood & Sand" - I haven't had one in 7 years! Delish. A quick kayak paddle while in Longville with my family this past weekend. More regular posting to come....

Last night the sleeping didn't go much better...a little but I gave into the bottle MUCH quicker now that I know it's the only thing that'll get her back to sleep. So, up for a half hour or so then, then she was crying again a couple hours later but she settled herself down pretty quickly. This morning Steve got up with her around...7 ? (I don't know...) and fed her then took her downstairs and I slept for another 45 minutes or so. That is HEAVEN. He doesn't realize this but those minutes are like precious GIFTS from heaven and score huge points. We went for a family hike this morning - although it was chilly Ms. Bundled Up did great and slept through most of the hike. It was cold and windy but on the trail in Chester we were nicely isolated from most of that and it wasn't too bad. This afternoon Dahlia played, I puttered around the house and Steve puttered around outside the house. We're still prepping the room for painting (so much patching, filling, sandi...

Pretty mellow today....the usual morning routine - up, shower, dress, get baby up, bathe her, dress - breakfast for both of us - then on to whatever we've got going on. We were on the phone with Apple for a long time today trying to figure out the wireless connection nonsense. (solution - get another Mac and dump the dell + linksys router! Amen!), we sent 3 packages - which entailed wrapping, packing & walking to the post office to send. I watched the rest of "21" which I enjoyed, I finished my book (After Dark) and started another (Gods in Alabama). I did some work including tweaking our WAB listing (for festival submissions) and final listens on soundtrack tracks. I tried a new recipe (eggplant parmesan - review...pretty darn good) and now I'm knitting & watching men's beach volleyball. Someday Dahlia will have her blanket. Tomorrow's Friday! Tomorrow we send off the soundtrack for duplication. Saturday my parents come to town. Sunday we have anothe...

Wow! 8 Months! Hard to believe. Dahlia is getting more & more fun as the days go by. She can pretty much sit by herself now - at least for a little wile. But she generally gets too excited and then falls over. Which is also kind of cute - when she doesn't bump anything! She 'talks' her head off...no words yet but I feel they're coming soon. I've been trying to have her play on the floor more so she can roll around and try the whole crawling thing (hasn't yet) and I think she likes it. She can get herself in the oddest positions/places by rolling - under the swing, almost under the couch, etc. Too funny. We're working on "bye-bye" - too soon for it but she's kind of getting the idea. When we ask "Where's Beavis?" she looks around and looks down at the floor - very very cute. Boy she loves that cat. She is still comfortably fitting into her 3-6 month clothes...I'm going to have some out-of-season stuff - sadly. There are som...

Sleeping in with Miss Dahlia.... Well, Blogger won't let me upload any more photos right now so I guess you just get this one. Two lovely morning snuggle sessions with my sweetie pie daughter & husband. ;) I love it! Also - driving up the North Shore; hiking at Split Rock State Park (the ski trails were BEYOND horrible); quality time with my husband; "Swedish baby" photo shoot this afternoon in Dahlia's crib (hee hee); my awesome husband scrubbing the bathtub; using my new fabric scissors for the first time; family dinner at Steve's Dad's house; daylight savings - OUT OF THE DARKNESS! I'm hoping the time change hasn't totally mucked up Dahlia's schedule. She's been a bit off today and I'm hoping for at least a 5 hour stretch tonight...we shall see....

The weekend was good! Saturday Laurie , Pete & their daughter Kate came up from the cities to visit us and meet Miss Dahlia! It was so much fun to see them. And they brought pizza! Whohoo! They also brought lovely gifts for us - INCLUDING - the fact that Laurie learned how to KNIT to make Dahlia a blanket! I was so touched by this I cannot even tell you. The blanket is beautiful and I'm sure Dahlia will spend many cuddly hours with it (or I will, heh). They even brought us ingredients to make chili, corn bread mixes, desserts and a big ol' lasagna & breadsticks to get us through some more meals. Very thoughtful and VERY appreciated!! Kate is so cute. She is 2 years and 2 months old and is so much fun. She LOVED Beavis. Couldn't get enough of him and he was mostly okay with that. I loved seeing her talk and to see her interact with both Laurie & Pete. All the playing & silliness - I can't wait for that stage and it really lifted me up. Dahlia of course en...

Back with some updates soon!

I'm very excited because this weekend we're having more visitors! Laurie and her family are coming to meet Dahlia tomorrow! I'm excited as it's been a while since I've seen Laurie, et. al. and she hasn't been up to visit our house yet. (Laurie, forgive the untidiness...I'm doing what I can! Doh!). We will chat & eat lunch & I will let her fawn over my beautiful daughter and I will fawn over her toddler and the guys will probably be amazed at how much we can talk. Then on Sunday Grandma & Grandpa R are coming for another visit! Whohoo! We have an "Oscar Party" planned for Sunday night and I will probably get to go to work w/o the wee one on Monday and I might even run to Sam's Club (evil but my Mom needs to go) and Target with my Mom. They're staying til Tuesday afternoon. Yay! Next weekend Steve's sister Allison & her husband Josh are visiting next weekend (they are expecting in July) and the next thing to look forward ...