Weekend Update

Let me start off by saying how much it pains me to move away from my 100 spot, it was comfortable there, I felt content in that space, but we move on don’t we?
At work on Friday I had an interesting day. I woke up fairly late, close to 6:45 so I had to rush with my shower and getting dressed. I didn’t have time to make breakfast so I sliced an apple really quick and ate it on the way to work. Once I got here I did a little blogging and sent out my Daily Laine. Later I went to the farmers market at lunch and bought some more of the trail mix that I make the Villages of the Pea People out of, it’s really good stuff. I also got some grapes that are HUGE and seedless and the best ever as well as some squash and zucchini and two pumpkins for carving. A fire marshal stopped by and got all douchy with Jim about the fact that they don’t know how to do their own jobs and look up paperwork so they thought that we built our new building illegally or something, it was laughable. And the marshal was like ten; his badge was bigger than he was. Then around 1:30 my boss had a delivery, everyone was called outside to help haul it in; ten cases of Costa Rican lager. A case of beer got started and it was finished by 3:30 at which point I clocked out, I don’t drink at work so I didn’t see a point in sticking around to watch them do it.
Friday night mom and dad had us over for dinner; Levi was in town so we got to celebrate my birthday again this time as a full family. Momma made some gumbo and potato salad and the Whites and the Schmale's came over and ate with us. We tried really hard to get a good picture of Laine and Amy playing together and it just didn't happen. We’ll try again next time. I did get a couple of great photos of Laine by herself in the back yard. I was almost able to get here to try the grass but she's just not too sure about it yet. I also got a great video of momma and daddy messing around; prepare yourself before viewing. I'm not responsible for you peeing yourself with laughter.



Erik and I went to the movies Friday night after dinner. Momma watched Laine for us and Mike gave Colleen permission to come out, I’m so glad she came with us too, everything is a bazillion times more fun when you have your person with you. Just for your information, Law Abiding Citizen is a great movie. Just take my word for it and go watch it.
Friday night Laine and I were up at 1:30, 4:00 and 6:30, just hanging out and talking to each other mostly. I had to take her into the blue room at 6:30, she was getting a little rowdy and I didn't want to wake Erik up. But the dogs started barking anyway when they heard they floors creaking and he got up to let them out and then joined us in bed in the blue room. There must be something about Erik’s smell that calms her because she passed out soon after he got there and as soon as she slept I did too. Erik took Laine and put her down in her bed but left me to sleep in a little more. I woke up close to 9:00 and was all by myself in a strange room, and that’s was a weird feeling I haven’t felt in years. Laine was still sleeping so I went back to my bed and found Erik still asleep too so I cuddled up to him and we all slept until Laine got up around 10:00. I got up and cut up an apple for breakfast and Laine seriously wanted one so I gave her a slice, Saturday October 24, 2009, Laine's first apple!
As soon as we woke up I got a hold of my person and made plans to meet her and her family at the church that sells pumpkins and we were able to take some amazing photos of each others families. I really hope that becomes an annual tradition for all of us. It’s so much fun to do together. Avery was being super adorable and wanting to pose for all her photos, she’s gotten really good at doing sweet smiles for photographs. And she’s apparently got a mad love for tiny pumpkins; she seemed to want to take all of them home with her. And the Bean has charmed Erik, she can do no wrong in his eyes, Josie is bar none Erik’s favorite toddler. Josie has a love for big pumpkins, she kept running to the largest ones she could find then more or less hug them and say BIG! And then Erik would say “did you see that, she hugged a pumpkin and said BIG!" I got a recap of all her movements. It was really adorable. Josie was all about the big pumpkins last year too and I'm looking forward to seeing if she does it again next year.
We didn't get to carve our pumpkins this weekend like I wanted to; we couldn’t seem to find the time. So maybe we can do it tonight.
After we left the pumpkin patch we went home for a quick pit stop and some grocery gathering before heading over to his parent’s house. I had all the veggies to make a spaghetti sauce and since his whole family was going to be there Erik and I decided to make lunch for everyone. There wasn’t even a spoonful left over, everyone loved it and my cooking ego inflated monstrously. After lunch all the kids went into the office with Tricia and got the walk through of all the Rosendahl important information, just so everyone knows where everything is. Tricia and Torben are taking a trip together to Egypt next week, so precautions have to be made as far as their estate.
After all that was taken care of we all made our way to the theater room to watch family movies that Torben had put together. I was amazed to see how everyone had changed in the last two years. I used to have some amazing legs, I mean, they went for miles. I don't know what happened or how I got these stumpy things now, but something drastic needs to happen, and soon.
Tricia had a meeting with the ladies of the neighborhood for dinner and Kate was about to heat up a frozen dinner and I wasn’t having any of that so I took her to the store and we made dinner for everyone. Laine was so tired that she started double fisting the thumbs, it was time to go hime but we didn't make it there until after ten. Erik took midnight duty for me and ended up getting up with Laine twice and staying up with her both time for a while. Poor kid, I don't know why she's not sleeping.
Sunday we woke up late, almost 9:30. Church starts at 10:00. We made it there late but we made it there and sometimes that’s what matters. Jacob asked us if we'd like to go to his karate tournament and I was really excited to go but it ended up not being a tournament at all but instead a "you gotta show up and your parents have to by tickets and you'll just stand there and maybe to do a kick or two, but hey, now you can move on to the next belt color" thing. So we opted out of that. Since Momma was having her brother come into town Erik and I were on our own for lunch. So we went to Cracker Barrel and had an amazing lunch. Once we got home Laine and I watched some TV while she calmed down a bit and rested. When I tried to put her down for a nap she flipped out on me so I decided to get her out of the house and she and I went to the mall while Erik did yard work. I had to return a dress I got for my birthday and I ended up getting a really nice black and white dress that will be great for Christmas this year. I’m very excited to have a new dress for Christmas, I’ve worn the same dress two years in a row now, and although that dress is amazing I’d rather not wear it again if I don’t have to. I also bought three shirts from Lane Bryant, they were having an amazing sale and I only spent 12 bucks so, I win.
Once I got home I fed Laine and played around with her for a little bit and then made some chili for dinner. After we finished eating my mom called to let us know that they were headed over to Waffle House so my uncle and his wife and my cousin could get some food before heading out. So Erik and I went to meet them for some coffee. It was great to see them all doing so well. Kristi was looking smoking hot and Cody looked really good too, much better than the last time I saw him. And Uncle Edward never seems to change to me; I think I’d be okay if someone said that to me after a couple of years. People who age well bug me though, because I don’t think I’ll age very well and I have severe jealousy issues.
After we left the Waffle House Erik and I headed over to Wal-Mart-- that's an amazing sentence right there!
At Wal-Mart we bought some safely gates to divide up areas for Laine, she's just getting too curious and put-everything-in-my-mouthy. Erik tinkered with putting them up but I think he needs a full afternoon to figure out the perfect place to put them, because apparently aesthetics are important when it comes to big ol’ wood gates in the middle of the hallway. I’ll be happy with however he puts them up as long as Laine can't pull them down on top of her.
Laine only woke up once last night so I got mostly good nights sleep. I woke up early this morning and was able to use one of my gift cards from my birthday and get myself a cheese danish that rocked my world and a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks that really made this morning a good one.
Now its off to getting this day started so I can kick its butt.

He Likes It, That Means He Likes Me

So I found that Olive Garden has some of their recipes online and I was really excited to try their Zuppa Toscana soup, but of course that’s one of the few recipes they have not posted, but I have mad Goodling skills and I found a different recipe, posted by an amazing food blogger that I follow religiously. Last night I did it. I made the Zuppa Toscana Soup. I bought some kale and potatoes and sausage and I let ‘er rip. And it was good.
Erik ate two bowls and when I got into bed last night, hours after he had turned in, he woke up and told me that he liked it a lot. I’ve got the heart flutters just thinking about it. Erik liked it! Ask my person, that’s a big deal. It’s a huge deal, it would be like my dad eating my mom’s food and saying “not only does this taste like Momma’s but it tastes better.” Yeah. Big deal.
I made a spaghetti sauce the other week that he thought was amazing too. He even did the dishes for me afterwards, I take that as a sign that he really liked the food and felt like he had to repay me, which I think is fair; so now I know if I were to be held at gun point and told to make something that would make Erik’s mouth water, I could do it. Twice!
On a side note, this is what my hair looks like today.

Milestone

This is my 100th post. I didn’t even realize that I’d gotten so far until I went to edit the last one, and it was number ninety-nine. 99 is much more intimidating than 100 to me, maybe because 9’s look like clubs and people get beat with clubs but 1’s and 0’s are geeky numbers so they aren’t nearly as menacing. I do feel like I should have something profound to say, but just like yesterday, I’ve got nothing. Today is an average day; the importance of my blogging achievements has not bled over into my everyday reality. I guess that makes sense; that the universe wouldn’t put a national holiday on this day, or a giant rainbow sprouting from my forehead (well that’s there, the rest of you just can’t see it). But that’s the way it goes. I know today is a day different from yesterday and tomorrow but the man at the farmers market will have no idea that when I buy pumpkins from him today that the act of buying those pumpkins will not be the most exciting part of my day, this is the most exciting part. And when I get home and tell Erik that I’ve reached 100 posts he won’t know that it’s a big deal to me, he’ll probably recognize that as an acceptable number considering the amount of talking I do at home.
So in celebration of this day I awarded myself by rereading all of my old blogs. It took a long time to do and I got really bored and skipped through some of them, but what really interested me are the comments I got on them. The people who read my blog are people I care about and the people who comment are people I love. I never thought too much about the fact that my blog is just an online journal, but it is. If you go and grab the journals I have kept over the years you won’t find a different writing style or different topics, except for the fact that Laine is new. I’m not a different girl in my head, this is me, all this stuff I write out is actually my thoughts and feelings, and I never would have thought I’d write that out for people to read, strangers maybe, but the people I love and want to love and respect me? I never would have guessed it. But here we are, how does it feel knowing that you have read 100 of my thoughts?
I’m thinking about buying myself an extra large pumpkin today in observance the magnitude of this day. And I’m going to carve flowers and polka dots into it. And I’m going to get Erik to start a fire tonight and we are going to drink Tang while we carve the pumpkins. I’ll make a big deal out of today. You couldn’t slap the smile off me today.

Stuffity Stuff Stuff

I’ve been trying to figure out what to write about today and I’ve got nil. So I’m just going to free write a bit. I haven’t updated anyone on the gifts I received for my birthday and I’m sure you’re all dying to know what I got and you didn’t but I’ll tell you anyway. I got the start of my unique mug/cup collection, which will one day rule the world. I got two books that I’ve been looking forward to reading for a while. I got some make up that seriously makes you feel a million times prettier than you actually are (that’s a good thing). I got a sewing machine, so no more hand stitching, no more blisters and no more crooked seams. I got shoes and scarves and a frame and a griddle and a baster and a dress and a whatever clock and a spatula and TONGS! I mean. I also got a Whinny the Pooh time-out stool to put in Laine’s room. I’ll be taking photos of everything soon I'm sure.
Erik says my gift from him will be here in about a week, but I’m happy with the shoes he got me, I mean, SHOES!
So this morning I woke up to our street flooded. Not with adoring fans as it should have been but from rain that decided not to drain like in all the other streets. So I ended up being late to work. I didn’t roll in until after ten o’clock. I might as well have stayed home for all the work I got done today. Instead of updating my job logs or programming I’ve been wasting my time by updating my Wishpot gift ideas list for everyone’s Christmas presents. It’s going to be awesome if I can just remember to buy what’s on those lists in the time frame I set out for myself. We want to get Christmas shopping all done before Thanksgiving if we can. Being broke during the Christmas season isn’t an option for us this year. Erik showed up to my work today and brought me a sandwich and iced tea, he’s such a great guy. But then he groped my chest and I had to break his hand. Or try to at least, he got all whiney and went upstairs and now I have no internet. So this won’t be posted until after he’s done being a little girl about it. But if what I hear is right after today we will no longer have satellite internet. He’s setting us up with a T1 line so hopefully the super important conversations I have about stuff with my person won’t be interrupted anymore with random hour long moments of “are you there, it says you’re there but you’re not responding, is the internet down again, why aren’t you responding, did you go to lunch, its giving me errors”, because those are really getting to be irritating. Mostly because I have no one and nothing to blame it on, so I just get aggravated and then have to swallow it, I hate swallowing anger at inanimate objects that I should be able to bash with a hammer. Stupid company owned equipment.
Tonight is our weekly meeting of the no-boys-allowed-honey-take-the-kid-upstairs-hey-look-there’s-a-new-girl-here club (the name still needs work). It is the night for Fringe and Grey’s and Private Practice and hopefully a Zuppa Toscana Soup that I am going to try very hard to make. Erik was supposed to be in Dallas tonight but with all the rain and flooding he stayed home which means that he gets to take care of the baby for us while we have our night. I’m so tired right now and I feel like this week’s kicking my butt, but in a good way, that really I just want a night to sleep to make up for all the eating and being happy I’ve been doing the last couple of days but that only means that I need coffee stat because nothing gets in the way of me and my The Name Still Needs Work Club meetings.

Wordy Wednesday

I know I’ve been making Wednesdays wordless here lately, but seriously, really, how long did you expect that to last?
Yesterday it was my birthday. I turned 28. I don’t feel 28. I feel older. When I think back to high school and I remember the dreams I had, all of them included a husband and a home and children, but none of them included me still being this young when I got there. I’ve hardly started this life and I’ve already done so much. I had a full childhood with friends and drama and art and music and red purses. I finished high school even though I never thought I would, I tried out college and failed but that’s okay, I ended up professionally in a field that would have made my degree irrelevant anyway. I gave a son who in turn gave me a brother and sister. I married an astonishingly wonderful man who just happened to have that other half of me. I own a home with that man and two cars, which are both insured. I have a child with that man, which is insured as well. We have paid off our debt and we are taking it easy now.
What’s next for us? Because I have a lot of time left here. I’m only 28. I’ve barely started.

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Me Day

Every year, for as long as I can remember I've gone out to lunch with my dad for my birthday. He’s picked me up from school and all my various jobs and we’ve always had this day as our day for lunch but sometimes it doesn’t work out, it has a lot to do with the fact that we both have jobs and we can’t always take the time off. This year he had a meeting that he wasn’t allowed to miss, but he promises to take me out tomorrow and I will see him tonight for dinner.
However I didn’t know that he had the meeting so I didn’t bring a lunch to work today. I assumed; and what’s that saying about it makes an ass out of me? Ha! Well Jimbo, my boss, took pity on me and took me and some of my co-workers out to lunch, and we got appetizers and desert and I ate myself retarded. I can’t even slouch properly in my seat I am so stuffed. On the way back I was lamenting over the fact that I missed seeing my dad today and while everyone was feeling sorry for me and saying “Aww” a lot guess who was having flowers delivered to my office? Dad did! He sent me flowers! Wonderfully beautiful flowers in a gorgeous vase with three amazing balloons, I LOVE BALLOONS!! And there were carnations and daisies and sunflowers, most of my favorite kinds of flowers, in all my favorite colors with a note that made me cry. I love my dad. And you know, for a Tuesday this is a pretty dang good day.
Also, Jimbo bought a cake for me. It says Happy F?@!ng Birthday Amanda.

Weekend Update

First off let me say happy birthday to my person’s man; Happy birthday person’s man.
I know that it took me longer than usually to get this update up but I do have a job and that has to come first. So this is my lunch break, and the only time I’ll have to do this today, I’m hoping the details don’t suffer for it.
Let’s start with Friday; around 2:30 my boss, some co-workers and I headed out to the back of the property to feed the hogs. I have photos of that but I think I’ll spare you. On our way back to the office my boss thought it would be a genius idea to drive through a pit of mud in a golf card weighed down with five people. I got mud all over me. And I was wearing a dress. I packed up and went home at 3:45. I’m sorry but I do not work well when I am covered in mud, and these folks aren’t near as fun as they used to be ever since I quit drinking at work.
So I got home around 4:30 and I took a quick shower and disinfected myself because I swear that was sewer water we drove through and I smelled like poop it was gross. After I got done cleaning up I picked up Laine and we went and got my mom so that we could all go do some shopping at Target. Mom wanted to get me a new shirt for our family reunion on Saturday and I wasn’t about to argue with her over it. Anyway I needed to do some grocery shopping.
Mom gave me some outfits she had bought for Laine and she wore two of them on Saturday, there are still two more shirts we haven’t tried on yet but I’m thinking daycare tomorrow would be the perfect time for that.
While we were at Target I bought eight dinners worth of groceries and only spent $74. I was surprised with myself, HEB is the only place I’ve been shopping at lately, I was proud that I was able to move my frugal shopping habits over to another store that I don’t know. Target isn’t a place I’m used to buying a lot of groceries at, but now I know it can be done, a little more expensively than what I’m used to but still within my budget. However HEB is still my number one pick.
After shopping I got home around 8:30 to find Erik and Stimpy hanging out waiting for the pizza they ordered because they got too hungry waiting on me to make dinner, but that’s okay because dinner didn’t get done until almost midnight anyway. I got ambitious and made stew. (I took a bunch of pictures of that too, but thats a whole other blog) Really good red wine and a really good friend to talk to makes late night cooking fun. I didn’t eat any of the stew though, it got to be too late for me and I crashed out around 1:30.
We got up around 6:30 Saturday morning so that we could make sure we were on the road to Ren Fair by 8:30 and we were, it took me a while to pack up Laine’s bag, but by the time I was done that baby was ready for the end of days. At least she had enough supplies to last at least three days; I didn’t even have to repack that bag this morning for day care. We made it to Fair around 9:45 and eventually met up with Erik’s family. Cassie and Jenn played King of the Log; Cassie won, nobody will forget, she won’t let them.

Then Jenn and James race on the rock wall, I’m pretty sure Jenn could have had James on that wall if she hadn’t been beaten with a pillow moments before.

Walking around Ren Fair and seeing how much Laine was enjoying all the costumes and characters around made me really wish that my person and the bean were there. Next time maybe.
We walked around the park for a little while, got a Turkey leg to eat for a late breakfast and had a small glass of honey mead that was amazing and before we knew it noon had come and gone and we had to head out to my family reunion. A nice surprise waited for us in that Jacob and his family as well as Danny and Damone had come to the reunion too. It was super amazing to have everyone in the family in one spot. We ended up getting a great family picture too.
As usual the food and company was amazing, and I wish I had taken more pictures but we did get a couple.

Laine and Grandma got down on the floor together and had a really great time making each other laugh. Liz came and joined us for a little bit and that is about all I saw of my kid while we were there. She got passed around a lot, I love family reunions, it’s like having a babysitter at the party, you don’t have to take care of the kids but you don’t have to pick them up after either.
Around 4:30 I woke Erik up from the nap he was taking on the couch and we and headed back out to Fair to hang out with Erik’s family a little bit more. We got there right before the joust began and Erik was so excited to see Laine see the horses, but we never got that far because she started crying every time the crowd would cheer, It was a little cute at first but after a few minutes we saw that it was really bothering her so we left that area and decided to just take our time and meander a bit. Time flew by and soon it was 7:00 and time to leave. We’ve already decided to go back in November and try to get a whole day’s worth of Fair in. I’m totally going to be a nagging wife to my person and try to get her to come with me. I really want to see Josie experience a place like that. It’ll give me something to look forward to for next year when Laine will be able to enjoy it more.
After we got done at Fair we headed out to the car to find that Jenn couldn’t find hers. It turns out that she had parked on the other side of the fair grounds, but it took a long while before that was figured out. We finally made it back home close to 10:00 where we crashed hard.
Sunday morning we were up and at ‘em again at 7:30. Laine came and joined us in bed for about a half an hour before we got up and made breakfast and then took a long family shower. We were ready for church by 9:00, an hour early, so Erik and Laine rested a bit on the couch and watched Doom. Church was great again, Darren started a new series this time on Exchanged Life and we are all looking forward to hear what he talks about next week.
Laine did well in the nursery this Sunday but when I got her out and brought her into the sanctuary, she saw her grandma and had to have her. I love how attached she is to my mom already; it reminds me of how I always want to be around my grandma when she’s near.
After church my parents took Laine to lunch and home while Erik and I rushed home to change and head out to the Dynamo game. This weeks game they were giving out jersey’s to the first 5000 fans, we would have made it if we hadn’t forgotten the tickets, so instead of getting there two hours early like we planned we were only a half an hour early. The game was incredibly engaging this week so that made up for any freebies we missed out on. We played the L.A. Galaxy and I have to just put this out there; David Beckham is not nearly as pretty in person as he is in the magazines. I guess when you don’t have Armani under panties and professional lighting you just look like a normal guy. But the full beard did make him come across as less of a fruit cake, so at least he had that going for him.
After the game we were rushing again, trying to get down to League City to run to the grocery store to get the green beans to make bundles for dinner at the McFee’s. We got to my parent’s house close to 5:00 and I got the bundles in the oven at 5:18. At 5:33 we left mom’s house and headed over to the McFee’s with half cooked beans but they were still working on the shrimp so I was able to bake them a bit more. Colleen seemed to really like them, which made me happy. I thought they went really well with the shrimp.
And when I say she made shrimp I mean that she pulled down stars from the heavens and battered them in angels' tears and fried them in babies’ smiles and I seriously ate until I thought I would pop.
After dinner Laine and Josie had a laughing fit together upstairs (catch the amazing video here, as well as the super amazing Josie dance here.) Then we all went downstairs again and had supper yummy carrot cake and hung out until 8:00 when we had to pack up again and head back to my parents to see one of their old friends who was flying in. She got to their house around 9:45 and we visited for a while until Laine started fussing and so we finally, finally made it back home. Eleven thirty on Sunday night was my favorite moment of the entire weekend. That’s when it ended. This weekend wonderfully fun and exciting but man, it kicked my butt.

And We're Off

We have an amazingly full weekend ahead of us. Family Reunions and Ren Fair, Church and friends, we are going to be so tired by the end of it all, but I'll tell you all about that after it happens. This morning I'm going to share a bit of video. Laine and Erik had a lazy morning and Laine discovered Erik's nipple, she'd always been interested in the hair around it, not it's the nipple itself, and that was cute but what was funny is she finds out that Erik is ticklish. After i finished filming she got him really good and now she knows how to make Daddy laugh.

Undertaken and Achieved

A while back I promised my person that when she had her baby I would make dinners for her and her family for at lest two weeks. I want to make sure that she has no reason to stress over feeding her family during a time when she needs to be concentrating on the new addition and herself. After I had Laine I was out of my mind tired from lack of sleep. I know my person isn’t going to have the same issues I had, she’ll have her own special needs and issues to take care of, but the basic needs; food, rest and comfort are still going to be needed. I will give that to her with dinners taken care of. Today I collected recipes for 21 dinners that I know how to make and from that I compiled a shopping list with corresponding recipe numbers so I know what to buy for which dinner. Soon I will break it down into weeks, and I will most likely be cooking these things for dinner at our house anyway so all I really need to do is make double batches.
The baby isn’t due until late January and this list could very well change completely but for now I’m proud of getting it down, so if something happens and things get hectic for me and I don’t have any other time to plan this out, it’s already done. Go me!

There is Only Room for One Quirky Person in This Office and It’s Not You, Mister.

George, our inspector, has the weirdest way about him.
He sings.
All the time.
Mostly about what’s going on, he makes up his own little songs about going outside to check the fab work or bolt holes.
He sings my song, Amanda by Waylon Jennings, to me when he passes by my office.
Every damn time he passes.
And just now, when he checked the coffee and the pot was empty; he got all red faced and said that it isn't fair that he made the coffee and he didn't get any.
Then he comes in my office and with a strait angry little red face tells me “I hope all your babies are born naked for this” and then storms off.
I really don’t know what to say to that.
Even though he is totally and completely the kind of old person I’d like to be one day. He’s not the kind of person I get along with very well. I like the guy enough, but man he can talk, he never shuts up, and I can’t get a word in edgewise. If you know me you’re probably laughing your tail off since I usually do that to you, and that’s the thing! That’s my whole problem with him. I talk; I’m the one who dominates your ears. I’m so used to being the chatty one that when someone else comes in and invades my talking space I get very uncomfortable. And I want to physically make him shut up.
But he’s old. Like 70. I can’t punch a 70 year old man.
Can I?

Bonks, Beef and Bathtime

Well, Erik moved the crib, I keep meaning to take a photo of Laine in there without the bumper but it just doesn’t seem to happen. I’m sure most of you know what a crib with a baby in it looks like anyway.
Last night before Erik got home I just put Laine on the floor and let her crawl to her hearts content, letting her go wherever she wanted. We played chase a little bit, she thinks it’s funny to crawl away from me and see me gasp and stomp after her. Then she got over to the dining room table and tried to pull herself up by using the table leg, she got up to her knees and got so excited that she threw her arms up in the air and then face planted on the tile. She didn’t cry and she really didn’t fall too hard so after I picked her up and saw that she was fine I put her back down on the carpet and she proceeded to do the exact same thing on the coffee table and then on the couch, after that I picked her up and carried her around. She wanted to get down again but there are only so many fearless baby antics my heart can take in a night. So it was a good thing Erik got home soon after so he was able to feed and bathe Laine while I warmed up our leftovers from last night. He fed her vegetable beef and rice cereal; she had fun playing in it more than she ate it. I don’t know how Erik seems to make such a mess when he feeds her, but I think he enjoys it as much as she does.As soon as they finished eating and I cleared out the sink he had her squealing and splashing in the water, I had to grab extra towels from the laundry room to clean up afterwards. Typically her little orange fish is enough for her to play with in the tub, and a washcloth or two to suck on, but we got out a rubber ducky to see if she’d play with something else for a change. She seemed apprehensive about the duck, not trusting the thing that kept getting closer when she wasn’t looking. Finally she picked it up, stared at it for a while seeming to try to figure out what it was, and then stuck the whole head of it in her mouth. Her answer to the questions “What is this” is “Eat it and find out”.

I’m going to say she gets that from Erik.

Whoa Nelly!!

As of today Erik and I are out of debt.
Our credit cards and our furniture have been paid off.
Okay he's got a tiny little credit card with the bank that needs to get paid off but that doesn't count becasue it's a secured credit card, so it's already paid off technically.
But that means that the only things we owe money on are the house and his car.
This is a seriously happy day.
I need to think of something special for dinner.