can you hear me now?

Carli is starting to mimic sounds.  One of Carli's favorite books is Noisy Farm.  It's a board book that has pictures of ducks, cows, sheep, pigs, goats, and roosters and it has the sounds that each of these animals makes.  Carli has begun to try to repeat the noises when we read the book to her, particularly the cow and rooster.  Her "moo" usually sounds more like an "ooo" and the "cock a doodle doo" sounds kind of like "ooh-oo-oo".

Carli's interest in cell phones has also continued to entertain us.  She has long been drawn to cell phones, especially the ones that light up... her toy phone and the old cell phone that she's been given don't hold her interest nearly as long.  She will often pick them up and hold them to her ear saying something that sounds ALMOST like "hello".  That's to our mommy & daddy ears anyway. Carli is quite the little conversationalist.  In the past few weeks her babbling has picked up even more.  I know,  hard to believe right?

Enjoy the video of her babbling, and the pics of her holding various phones.  Oh, and even a pancake and camera have been phone stand-ins when her hand just won't do. (if you look closely at the picture collage, you may see them)

Camping: Tent Fun

I have so many photos from our camping trip (the last week of August), I am going to break them up.  The first installment will be about our tent.

It has become a tradition to do an annual camping trip with the cousins.  We drive to Pearrygin Lake which is in North Central Washington about 4 hours outside of Seattle.

We have made the trek to camp for 5 years (though we missed last year's trip due to scheduling conflicts).  The appeal of camping has always been (aside from the lure of nature, of course!):

1) It's with family, how much more fun can it get?

2) Alex and I got to sleep in Ronnie & Adriane's trailer on the sofa bed. 

3) We don't have to bring as much stuff because we are camping with people who have much more gear than ourselves.

Well this year, I think #2 AND #3 were eliminated.  Since our family has grown from 2 to 3, we had to take the plunge and buy a tent!  Yes, a tent. We borrowed our neighbor's rooftop cargo bag to help transport all our stuff so Carli wouldn't be completely engulfed by gear.  

I'm ready to go!

Can you find the baby in this picture?

I used every nook & cranny to make stuff fit better.

fast asleep <5 minutes into the drive

Since babies need a lot of stuff, I'm not exactly a minimalist and like to be prepared... I bought an 8 x 10 foot tent.  Hey, it was on sale at Target anyway.  How else were we supposed to have space for the Aerobed AND Carli's pack n' play PLUS all our clothes, diapers, toys, books, etc, etc?

The tent was nice and spacious.  The bed fit with plenty of room for the pack n' play and our STUFF.  Of course the pack n' play was used ONCE because the night temperatures were so cold (<50 degrees on the first night), that we didn't want Carli to freeze by herself.  We all snuggled up and stayed nice and toasty under our blankets, but our heads were COLD!  Thankfully Carli had a beanie hat, but neither Alex or I did.  We propped up the sheets and slept under them when Carli pulled off her hat.  If you notice Alex's "headdress", he made a makeshift hat to keep his noggin warm!

Here is an assortment of photos of the fun that was had by everyone in our tent... more camping fun to come!

like mother, like daughter?

Today I had to make a quick call from the house phone.  While I was on that call, Carli picked up my iPhone and held it up to her ear like she was talking.  It was too cute!  I wish I had a picture of it...

I think she may be taking after me, and I don't talk on the phone NEARLY as much as I used to!  Ha ha ha! 

9 months young!

Carli celebrated 9 months on Saturday, August 14th.  9 months?  Really?  Wait, I just gave birth to her and brought her home... Where did the time go??? (As I finish up this draft 2 weeks after it was started!)


At her 9 month appointment she has slowed down a little in her growth.  She was 27.25 inches long and was only 16 lb 15 oz which is in the 20% for weight.  (She was 14 lb 14 oz, 30% and 13 6.5 oz, 60% at her 6 and 4 month checkups)  Our doctor isn't worried about this though because she is so active.  He says that the "active babies" sometimes have a harder time putting on weight so as long as she's eating well, we don't have to worry.


We have been having so much fun with Carli and I definitely feel blessed to be able to spend so much time with her during the day.  We've been filling our time with playdates, playtime, reading, learning baby sign language, swim lessons, errands and cooking.  


Here is what Carli has been up to lately over the last few months.

• She figured out how to crawl on 6/29.  On 7/6 she figured out how to pull-up on things.  She has been cruising on furniture and is testing her balance by letting go of me, Alex or objects to stand independently. The last timed stand by herself was probably about 15 seconds long!
• Stood up un-assisted on 8/4.
• "Transferring" while standing/cruising - she looked like she was doing baby rock climbing on our dresser as she grabbed one drawer knob then the next, making her way across the front of the dresser
• Figured out how to get up a step!

• Making funny sounds with her mouth.  She has been making "raspberries" and "blowing bubbles" since we were on vacation in Hawaii in mid-June, but the past couple weeks she really has started to find entertainment in making the silly noises for attention.  Carli also laughs in delight when the sound is reciprocated back at her.
• Carli also mimics the a number of funny mouth noises such as the mouth pop that sounds like the "thwack" of a perfectly hit tennis ball.
• Taking swim lessons - she gets swooped under the water a few times a class by me and hasn't cried yet! 
• Sticking her tongue out.  I took her in the bathroom and showed her my tongue while looking in the mirror, she followed suit.  Now I can say "where's your tongue, show me your tongue" and this is what I get.

 she still makes cute faces too

• Kissing mommy.  She gives sweet, wet kisses to me when I ask her to.  Sometimes she kisses daddy too.  Sometimes she ignores me completely when I ask her to kiss either one of us because I am clearly interrupting her playtime. 
• Hugging me tight and burying her face into me (I LOVE this and could be hugged by her ALL day long!)
• Making funny noises like growls and low hums (while eating)
• Learning to communicate.  Carli has been using more and more gestures to try to tell us what she wants.  Sometimes she's lucky and we actually understand.  
• We've been watching Baby Signing Time DVDs vol 1 & 2 (in addition to the signs we've already been using) so she can learn sign language. It is very cool to see that in the few weeks she's now starting to realize that if she uses signs I understand her more quickly.  In addition to milk and diaper, Carli has started to use all done, bird, dog, baby, signing, & time.  It's super cute when she signs baby signing time to the theme song of the DVDs.  
• Initiating peek-a-boo - I used to put something over Carli or my face to play peek-a-boo, but she has started to do this on her own.
• "Reads" books on her own.  Which means she just flips pages back and forth.
• Pulls all the containers, cutting boards, strainers, and bowls out of "her cabinets" while I'm cooking.

• "Dances" to music - this means bouncing up and down or waving her hand around (see post "video rewind" and watch "wild thing" video"
• Does itsy bitsy spider hand motions
• Gives high five
• Eating LOTS of different foods but still has a toothless grin :)  

I'm sure there's more... it's so hard to remember everything...  I need to get better about making shorter blog entries just to get it all documented...  She's growing up so quickly!

video rewind

Here are some videos from when we were on vacation in Hawaii last month.  
Oh wait, it's AUGUST now so make that ~ TWO months ago...  Sheesh.  I know it's always said, but never have I really understood how fast time really flies until Carli was born.


Anyway, here are just a few... hopefully more will be coming :)


hula hula hula 


Papa PeeWee has always sung this song to the babies in the family.  He has been singing this to Carli since she was born.  Ever since could hold her head up, he holds her in his hands and kind of shakes her hips while singing this song to her.  


Carli usually smiles when he sings this, but when we were on vacation Aunty Asia added a new dimension to the song.  Ever since this rendition, Carli will wave her hands now when Papa or anyone else sings this song to her.





digging sand


Carli wasn't the biggest fan of putting her feet in the sand.  Probably for the same reasons that she didn't care for putting her feet in grass (see video below).  It was a strange texture to her.  But somehow the texture felt very different to her hands and she LOVED playing with the sand in her hands.  She was so enamored by the sand in her hands, she even wanted to try it in her mouth... but we stopped her.  Yeah we are such party-poopers, just ask Carli. :)





grandpa's grass


Carli wasn't sure what to think the first time I put her feet on the grass in Hawaii while she was barefoot.  The grass is kind of poky and is very thickly tufted.  Carli would put her feet down for a second and then lift them up, or rest one foot on top of the other.  Eventually she would remember she could just lift both feet up and then wouldn't put them down again (unless we fooled her, hee hee.)  Though this wasn't the first time she put her feet in the grass, it is consistent with what she did every time we tried to have her stand in the grass.





wild thing


Carli really started verbalizing a lot while we were in Hawaii.  She had been consistently saying "ma-ma-ma-ma-ma" or "mummmm-mummm" when she wanted me or if she needed some kind of comfort.  The new syllable she found in Hawaii was "ba".  She began saying "ba-ba-ba-ba-ba".  So I sang "Barbara Ann" by the Beach Boys to her and she began waving her hands to the singing.  We quickly found the Beach Boys on YouTube and played "Barbara Ann" for her since it had so many "ba-ba's" in it.  


She loved it and then "Barbara Ann" led to more YouTube videos... hence "Wild Thing".  (The cute-factor was just captured way better in this video than the one of "Barbara Ann"

full-time, not stay-at-home

HA HA HA!  I composed this over a month ago and never posted it.  OOPS! Anyway, it's a little out of date, but just pretend you're reading it a month ago.  


I survived, make that we all survived, my first true week home as a full-time mom.  Notice I said full-time?  Yes, before I made my career change I called it full-time mom... and as an initiated member of the club, I maintain that it should be "full-time" mom.  Maybe "full-time+" mom, not "stay-at-home".  (Oh, and you moms who work in an office too... yeah, you are full-time x 2 moms.)


The issue I take with the label "stay-at-home" mom implies that you sit at home doing nothing but watching the Today show, various kids programs, Days of Our Lives and Oprah while you do various tasks around the house.  While I will admit that I anticipate I will want to watch some TV on occasion, there were more days this week than not that the TV was not turned on until 7 pm or so when Alex got home.  There is lots of action to watch while I play with Carli!  I also admit that I can understand how full-time mom can easily be stay-at-home.  It takes far less effort to just stay at home than actually get dressed and run around doing errands and activities!


Anyway, in-case you were paying attention and your eyebrows raised when I said this is the first real week home... My last day of work was June 4th.  We left for Hawaii on June 8th and didn't get back until the 22nd.  My mom was here when we got back so we returned to houseguests.  Yes, guestS in the plural.  We returned on a Tuesday morning and we babysat Marin and Jack, my cousin's 11 and 7 year old Wednesday-Saturday.  


This week was fun.  I truly enjoyed being home with Carli and not having to rush off in the mornings to work and then rush to pick her up from daycare in the evenings.  It will take me a little bit to get our schedule figured out (I think we really got her off-kilter by not following a schedule in Hawaii), but I know that once we get into the swing of things it will be great!


So since I originally composed last month this here are ten things I have found being home with Carli:

1. The TV hardly ever gets turned on with the exception of an occasional Sprout show or to watch a baby sign language DVD. 
2. It is difficult to feed and groom myself, but it is a must to feel human and to be able to leave the house!
3. Carli will be a handful and a half to watch as she gets more and more mobile! (see previous comment about feeding and grooming self)
4. It is hard to get things done during nap time because I either need to a) feed myself, b) take a nap too or c) just need a little decompression time to do nothing aka surf the internet.
5. There really is not much time during the day between 2-3 naps, 6 meals (just for Carli) and tasks like grocery shopping and cooking.
6. There are not enough hours in the day, days in the week, etc to get everything you want done (some things don't change whether you're in an office or not!)
7. I want to do all sorts of fun things with Carli and other mommies and their kiddies, but see above.  
8. Alex is extremely supportive of our new family arrangement and he has helped me make the transition pretty smoothly.
9. This is much more active and difficult work than the work I was previously doing.
10. This is MUCH MORE GRATIFYING WORK than ANYTHING I have ever done!

Karate Kid 3?

This is what Alex and I saw when we checked on Carli before we got in bed tonight.  It was too funny to not take a picture.

...and yes, that means we're both on our computers in bed.  Good night!

This belongs with the previous post...

Not sure why this didn't post, but it could be because it was done
from my phone at the beach.

The coconut wire wasn't working... Hee hee!

last beach trip of vacation

Carli takes in the view of the Pacific Ocean before we head back to
Seattle tonight.

...and we're back!

The last 4 months have been busy!  


To sum it up... While I was on maternity leave I was having so much fun with Carli & trying to get as much sleep as possible, that I didn't blog much.  Not to mention I was having issues being able to upload pictures because my laptop's hard drive was full.  


Then I went back to work on March 22nd.  Enough said about the work part, here's the rest.


We were very lucky to have both Grammi & Grandma around for my first week of work so Carli had lots of love and attention even though she and I were missing each other.  I think she fared better than I did.  Carli had been sleeping really well until I went back to work.  When I went back to work she started waking up in the middle of the night and earlier in the morning, seemingly to spend more time with me.  I didn't mind as it was great having more cuddle time with her.
  
I had a hard time leaving Carli (especially the first day!), but it was nice knowing she was with Grammi.  At the beginning of May we started taking Carli to daycare as my mom was finally returning to her own life instead of helping with ours.  This was when the whole "have-it-all" working mom reality started to set in.  Prior to that I had been able to get to the gym a few times a week, thanks to my mom helping with Carli.  The "Daycare Dance" changed a lot of that.  We had to get up earlier, had less time at work, and stay up later to get everything prepped for the following day... etc, etc.


As I tried to balance everything, Alex and I began evaluating our decision to put Carli in daycare.  Half a week in, Carli began sniffling and by the second week she was sick with a cold and an eye infection.  I found myself working late at night and/or having to leave early to pick Carli up when she was sick.  Not to mention we were paying A LOT of money to have her sick from an expensive daycare center.  


After much deliberation and evaluation, we decided that I would stay home with Carli!  Alex was VERY supportive of the idea and he kept asking me when I was going to leave work before I even seriously considered it.  After some careful examination and realization that Carli is only going to be little once, I took a huge leap of faith and gave my notice.  10.5 years is a long time to be at a company, but I am very excited for this career change.  Besides taking care of Carli full-time, I will be finally starting my silver-fusing jewelry business.  More on that to come as I get things going there.


Friday, June 4th was my last day of work and on Tuesday the 8th we left for vacation in Hawaii.  We're having a great vacation so far, and have many pics to share (I know I've said that before, but this time I mean it!).


I'm looking forward to getting back to my new job and hobby/job!  (But not just yet... we have another 4 days of family, friends, sun, and ocean in Hawaii!

forgot the en-route pics

Carli entertaining herself, on the plane, & fast asleep on plane

Carli's 1st flight

I'm sitting on the plane composing this post and will post it once we land...

We're headed to Denver to visit Alex's grandma. Grandma Thelma suffered a stroke on Tuesday so we are taking Carli to meet her great-grandma. Thelma is doing much better than they initially expected her to do, so this is great news! She should be able to talk to Carli and she was excited when she learned we were coming for a visit.

As for Carli, she's traveling very well so far. She woke up in a great mood (as always) even though it was much earlier than she normally gets up. She even was alert enough to grab her toes for the first time all by herself!

She looked puzzled as we got on the shuttle from the parking lot and walked through the airport. But we got through security without a hitch, except for daddy trying to figure out how to close the stroller. (I think he had only done it once before.)

The plane ride so far has been good. Carli seemed to be bothered by the ascent a little, despite my efforts to nurse her. I think she was more interested in looking around and the loud noises piqued her curiosity. She got tired and after a little bouncing/swaying she's been napping for about an hour so far.

She's made many friends on the journey as well... Smiling at the gate agent and TSA officers. While we were gathering and adjusting things post-security gates, a woman came up and said "isn't that just the cutest baby in the world?" As Carli's mom, of course I agreed and thanked her on Carli's behalf. :)

Looks like the clock has run out... We're starting our descent. I better get ready to help Carli not have hurt ears!

Ta ta til solid ground!

suck, socialize & survey

Carli has been a pretty quick eater. She takes after her dad that way, going after her food like it's going to run away, eating enthusiastically and vigorously. This has been pretty convenient for me, because if a baby has to eat every 2-3 hours and be held upright to try to prevent reflux from happening after eating, then at least she eats quickly.

Carli used to eat for about an average of 10-15 minutes, sometimes finishing in 7 or 8. However, the past few weeks that has changed. I think the fact that she needs more food combined with her increased interest in everything around her, has led to feedings taking about twice as long. She now takes 20-30 minutes to eat. I know that I'm fortunate and this is still fairly short compared to some babies so I'm not complaining.

Carli's mealtimes have become very entertaining for the rest of us though. She will often "suck, socialize, and survey". She'll take a gulp or two, stop to beam a smile my way (or daddy or grammy's way if they're nearby), and then look around the room. It's a good thing she's completely adorable to me or I might get frustrated with this behavior. Okay, I admit sometimes it is frustrating, but I am perfectly willing to do it because I am completely smitten with Carli! Besides, who wouldn't think it was cute if they heard her trying to babble while eating. The huge smiles she gives me multiple times a feeding make it all worth the extra time!

the multi-holiday day

The 14th was a multi-holiday for us. It we Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year and Carli's 3 month calendar date birthday (as opposed to the 12 week baby tracking birthday).

We didn't have major celebrations for any of them. Well, we went to dinner with Scott and Bridgett at the Metropolitan Grill on Saturday. It was soooo yummy! I enjoyed a non-alcoholic citrus mojito and an American wagyu filet mignon for dinner. We also shared almond crusted scallops for an appetizer, spinach, mushrooms & brussel sprouts for veggies, and for dessert the four of us shared "hot apple pie". Basically, they flambéed apples tableside and served it with olympic madagascar vanilla ice cream and yummy crisp topping.

For Chinese New Year I was missing dim sum, noodles, and jai (a traditional Chinese dish that's eaten for good luck). I wasn't missing it too much though because Alex made breakfast for Valentine's Day. He made fried rice, bacon, and blueberry pancakes! It was delicious! Mom helped him with the fried rice since he didn't know how to make it, but for a first-timer, he did a great job! When mom asked me why I gave him such a tall order, I said that I originally asked for pancakes. Alex asked "what else?". Then I said bacon, and he said "what else?" So I said fried rice. I think next time he may not ask "what else?" since he said he was tired when he finished cooking. I enjoyed breakfast very much though and I felt very lucky that he did all of that for me!

As for Valentine's Day, here are some pics of Carli in her Valentine's outfits...

The Mad Hatter

I was watching the Baby Signs DVD with Carli today and one of the signs was hat. Her hats were all in her room so I put my hat on her head. At first she was fine, then she got impatient while I took pictures of her, then she was okay again.

When Alex came home I showed him the pictures of Carli in my hat. He must have wanted to join the fun, because I walked into her room and found his hat on her head while he was changing her. :)

'Brutal' crossfit fitness craze hits the Northwest

Okay, gotta finish this post. I started it and had it saved as a draft for a couple weeks now. The original post date is 2/2, it's now 2/18...

Evening Magazine is a daily TV show that comes on after the evening news here. It usually has interesting, heartwarming, or silly pieces that are relevant to the Seattle/Northwest area. A few months ago, they showed up at our gym. Based on the footage, it was November 5th, 5 days before my due date. I think it was either the 5 or 6 pm class, and I showed up late that day because traffic was bad. I remember walking in and thinking that the gym felt strange...

Well, it felt strange because it was. Dave was teaching class when Scott normally does, there was no music, and there were cameras and the guy from Evening Magazine there. I changed clothes and hopped in for whatever was left of the warm up. As we began our strength work, Nancy (the gym manager) ran over to me and said, "Hey, Evening Magazine is here and as soon as they saw you walk in they asked what your story was. I told them that you're 9+ months pregnant and they asked if they could talk to you." I responded sure, and that was the start of a weird workout.

Weird because I had a camera in my face for many of the things that I was doing. Push-ups, pull-ups, and push-jerks. I remember thinking that I would be doing more weight if I hadn't sprained my wrist. Oh yeah, about 2 or 3 weeks prior to that, I sprained my wrist doing a handstand. Yes, a handstand. I had been doing them the whole pregnancy without any problems. Apparently the pregnancy-induced joint laxity had set in, and something shifted while I did the 36-week handstand. The handstand itself felt fine but after I finished it, something felt off. So while they were filming me for the simple fact that I was doing something "brutal" at 9+ months pregnant, me being a CrossFitter to the core, I still was thinking that I could have been doing more weight.

This clip below is the result. I had no idea I'd end up with so much air time. I figured that I'd have a little cameo and that would be it. Well, I guess now we have something to show Carli what she was doing in my tummy when she grows up. :)

7 hours, 43 minutes

I am in awe. I'm lying in bed feeding Carli trying to remember what I read just a day or two ago... I read that some babies can go up to 10 or 11 hours between feedings, but I am pretty sure that was 4 month olds that I read that about. You may have guessed that I'm surprised because Carli just went 7 hours and 43 minutes between the start times of feedings. Alex checked on her and she was still not showing signs of being hungry. She had scooted a bit to the side of the crib, so he moved her over. He reported that she didn't even peep, so I took the opportunity to get her Zantac ready (for her reflux). When I finished that, she had begun to stir which means she was waking up hungry. I still had time to change her diaper and Carli still didn't wake up fully or cry before I actually started feeding her.

Let me just say, YAHOO! Now I am thanking my lucky stars and acknowledging this could be a total fluke. We have been very fortunate that Carli has been lasting about 5 to 6 hours between feedings when she goes down at night. I think the longest she has gone before today is around 6.5 hours.

The first time she went longer than 4 hours Alex woke up to check on her. For this too I am lucky. You see, Alex is a lighter sleeper than I so he usually hears Carli before she even really wakes up hungry. Sometimes he wakes up out of habit even though she is still sleeping soundly. When Carli is stirring and making signs that she's hungry (or if she's "calling me"), he'll change her diaper then bring her to me in bed. It's a little thing but it is so nice!

While Alex changes her, I usually roll over and grab the extra pillow to prop behind me and the Boppy to help support Carli's head/my arm. Then I grab my iPhone and open my Total Baby app which helps me keep track of feeding times/lengths and which side she ate from last,if I can't tell just by feeling (the app does waaaay more too, I'd recommend it to other moms). I will usually tell Alex how long it's been and then he'll go back to sleep while I feed her.

Normally when Carli goes to bed, I will do a few things before I actually climb in bed myself. This results in me sometimes only getting 2-3 hours for my first stretch of sleep. (Last night, I actually did fall asleep shortly after she did so I feel extra rested! I probably got about 7 hours... Woo hoo!) Once she wakes up once in the middle of the night, she will usually sleep for 3-4 more hours before she wakes hungry again. Speaking of more sleep, Carli's done eating, I've held her "upright" long enough, and she's sound asleep again as is Alex. Time to put the phone down and get back to bed myself (I should have about 2-3 hours more if I'm lucky). Gotta capitalize on the extra sleep while I can!!! :)

Helping Mom with Laundry

Feet are Fascinating

On Monday night I called my mom to see if Carli would talk to her. She was more interested in staring at her feet. Or the ladybugs on them.

We've been playing and doing some activities with her hands and feet lately, so it seems Carli's discovered that her feet are at the ends of her legs. Sometimes they are the most interesting thing around. :)

Wake Up Daddy!

Just hanging out while daddy naps. This is fun!

What's that over there?

Hmm, maybe not as fun as I thought.

How do I get out of here?

Uh oh. What do I do now? He's not waking up even if I squirm... Who's going to help me?

Little Conversationalist

Talking to the lion on her bouncy seat.

Future thumb sucker?

Carli in Lights & more

These pics are from my phone last week. I figure Carli's napping on me and I don't want to disturb her so I'm uploading things I have on my phone to the blog.

The first pic is when I was taking the tree down. She loves the lights so I hung them on her swing.

Clean Facilities Only Please

An occurrence this morning reminds me of something I've noticed. It seems that Carli has a preference for going #2 in clean diapers. At least 2 times this week and a handful of others, Carli waits until I change a "she-she" (#1) diaper and then a few minutes after getting changed, she gives me a reason to change her all over again. Usually a gleeful grin or a tell-tale noise lets me know she's ready for a new diaper... Again :)

Single Parenting

I have a feeling that I am going to feel like a single parent at times for the next few weeks. Alex is back in school so that means work, school, homework and long hours for him. He's only taking 2 classes instead of the three he took in the Fall, but he'll still be busy nonetheless. School is 4 days a week so he's either at school or work late.

I had the first taste of it last night. Since I wanted to g to the gym and workout, Alex met me at the gym to pick-up Carli and bring her home. This meant leaving work earlier than he would have if I hadn't asked him to do this, so he then had to work at home. As a result, I ended up bathing Little Cutes myself. I did this Monday night when Alex didn't get out of class until 10 pm. Yup, 10 PM.

In fact, Carli loves bathtime so it's quite fun bathing her. But last night she pooped in her tub. I had to pull her out, empty the tub, clean it out, then refill it. At least it's just baby poop so it's not too bad to deal with. Since Alex was downstairs working, 1) I didn't want to bother him and 2) I would've had to yell pretty loud to get him to hear me. So dutifully and like a seasoned mom, I just took care of it. And this happened not once, not twice, but three times last night. After the third time, I gave up and just put her under the tub faucet to wash her off and bathtime was done.

Thankfully for both her and I, neither of us were traumatized by the event(s). Anyway, back to the single parent thing. Alex found out yesterday that he has to he in DC for work next week. Tues-Sat. Great. To the rescue: Aunty Marni!! My step-sister had been talking about visiting, so with the latest development I texted her and asked her to really come. She has Delta flight benefits through her mom, so she can just hop on a plane pretty easily. She is planning on being here when Alex has to be gone to keep me company and help me out. Yay!

I told Alex this news with the comment that she was going to come so I don't have to be a single parent. His reply, "So I'm a deadbeat dad already huh?". "No honey, you're just a busy working daddy." Don't worry. We'll all survive. I think. (smile) Will report back after his trip... Now it's time to put Carli back in her crib and head back to bed. Good night. Good morning.

Yay, it worked!

Carli says, "I'm doing the happy dance because now our family and friends will be updated with stuff more often!"

Mommy says, "Yay, I figured it out! Tried to do the first two tries at 4:30 in the morning. Figures it wouldn't work because of user error... I had blogget.com instead of blogger.com in the email address! Now I can blog in bed!"

Testing, testing 2

Testing, testing 1

I'm trying out the email to blog feature. I figured that this might be away to keep myself occupied during middle of the night/morning feedings...

8 weeks already!?!

Holy smokes. It's been over 4 months since I've posted... I guess you could say we've been busy. Just a little. I posted this entry, then realized I have to change the title of our blog from "the adventures of alex & kellie" to something new. So hopefully by the time you're reading this, I've done that. If not, I got summoned by "the princess" or went to bed because I'm tired :)

I can't believe that Carli is 8 weeks old tomorrow already! I have some pics to catch up on... I guess I better get used to being in catch-up mode (like I'm not already, ha ha!)

I hope to get more pics posted soon... in the meantime, this was her at the doctor's office on Tuesday the 5th (also Daddy's birthday). She was 10 lb 12 oz, that's 3 lbs 11 oz more than she weighed at birth... she's gained over 50% of her birth weight.

We are saying bye to Grammie tomorrow morning... she goes home for a few weeks and then will come back when I have to go to work so Carli doesn't have to go to daycare so little. We will all miss her for many different reasons and can't wait until she comes back!