Snow Day!!

Yesterday I was home with a sick Libby. She had been throwing up and she can't go to the sitter like that. I stayed home with her knowing that if she was still sick today Mike would take his turn. Well, lucky him, she is no longer sick but school has been cancelled for me (he still has to make his drive to work today). We have a snow day today. (Trust me, teachers get just as excited about snow days as the kids do.) Now, there's not ACTUALLY any snow on the ground right now (it's 7:30 am) but there is ice. It's November 30th and they are predicting that we will get at least 6 inches but maybe up to 16 inches of snow by tomorrow. The current windchill is 12 degrees also. Libby may be wearing her fleece pajamas all day because we probably won't be going anywhere.

TLA

Christmas is coming

We spent this weekend getting ready for Christmas. We put up the rest of the decorations and started cleaning up in preparation for our guests. This will be the first time we have hosted Christmas and we are excited to do so. The only thing left to put up is my stocking.

I got this wild hare idea that I'd like to make all of our Christmas stockings. I started on January 2, 2006. I have been needlepointing it and I started out with mine in case I messed it up. I really didn't care if mine looked kinda bad but I want Libby and Mike's to look good. Well, long story made short... I am just now finishing it after almost 11 months! I thought I'd have at least 2 of the 3 done by Christmas and it turns out that having Libby slowed me down more than I thought it would. Mine will be done this week and can join our other temporary stockings on the wall very soon. I feel very accomplished though and it looks much better than I expected.

TLA

Someone call a dentist!

It's offical - Libby has a tooth (or as Mike likes to say "toof")! I can't ever see it because when I pull her lip down she sticks her tounge out over the tooth but I can feel it. It is going to be fully grown in before we know it!

TLA

Lots of changes!

Our little girl is now a very solid sitter! She can sit on the hard surfaces like the floor and softer ones like the bed also. We think she is also cutting a tooth. On Monday night she was in an awful mood and she had a sharp little point just under her gum line. But today the point has disappeared and there is no tooth to be seen. I don't really understand what is happening here but maybe her gums are swollen and we can't feel it? We don't know but we can tell that tooth is on it's way!

Libby has also started this new thing of pulling on her hair. She will pull it straight up and make it even messier than it already is. Believe it or not but this week she has gotten a LOT more hair! It is constantly a mess though!

In addition to all her changes, we have started making her baby food. We're finishing up some jar food we have for her and after that, it's all homemade. I actually really like making her food. I know exactly what is in it, and it's very fresh and easy to do.



"Hey, do you like my new toy? I can sit and play with it all by myself!"

Be Careful What You Wish For...

Yesterday I lamented about Christmas coming earlier and earlier...guess what? Santa's at our local mall and the Christmas tree in our house is up. Yep, November 18. Guess I'm eating my words now!

MK

They Want Us to Look Like What?

It's November 17, and I'm already getting sick of the Christmas season already. Don't get me wrong, I'm really looking forward to Libby's first Christmas and all of the pomp and circumstance that'll come with it, but it seems that the commercialization of it has started so early this year. Last Saturday night, TBS ran "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (the good animated one...not that awful live-action one that Jim Carrey did)...that was on November 11...a good, what, 40 days or so from Christmas? My friend Dave is noticing it too out in California...it's an epidemic.

**Cue the "back in my day" music**

I remember that the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade was the first chance to see Santa Claus for the 1st time of the Christmas season. Now - well, our mall is having Santa appear tomorrow...tomorrow. No one waits for Thanksgiving anymore. I remember not seeing Christmas cartoons or animation until well into December. Now? I'm sure that Rudolph will be popping up on CBS very soon (November 30 actually). JC Penney's has had their Christmas decorations up since around Halloween. We're getting to the point that the whole months of October, November, and December should just rename themselves to the Greater Holiday Months...that's all that seems to be going on during those times anyway!

OK, now onto the topic that Tricia mentioned yesterday that I had in mind. Sometime in 2007, Tricia and I are heading to Freeport, Bahamas for a vacation. With the new rules in place from the Department of Homeland Security, we need a passport to travel there now. When we went to Vancouver, BC in March 2005, all that we needed was a driver's license and birth certificate - I guess that's not enough now. Regardless, we are going ahead and getting all of our paperwork in, because knowing the government, it'll take a really long time to get our passports.

Last weekend, we went to Walgreens to get our passport photos made. We get there and are told that we have to take our glasses off (no big deal). Both of us instinctively smile for the camera. Nope. Can't do that. Apparently the Department of Homeland Security doesn't want you to smile. Can they not tell if someone is a terrorist if they smile? Seriously, what's the deal with that? We have to wait about 10-15 minutes until the photos are ready, and when we come to pick them up, imagine our surprise when they turn out like this:

All we can do at this point is laugh our tails off. Tricia says "my God, I look like a battered woman!" I have no idea what I look like - scary is the first thought that comes to mind! And you all wonder how we, looking as we do in these pictures, could have a daughter that's as cute as she is!

MK

Semi-Serious Topic

Sorry we haven't blogged in awhile (although, Mike does have a blog topic and some pictures to go along). Life is hectic right now. This week is parent teacher conference week at school so my life is crazy. We haven't had school on a Friday since the 3rd and won't again until December 1st. It really makes it hard to get to everything that needs to be done in 5 days when you only have 4.

Yesterday I was talking to a long-term sub in my building. She is here covering a maternity leave. Anyway, we were talking about kids and babies and she mentioned that her son died of a heart attack 5 years ago. He was 27. Then she said, "Enjoy every minute because they don't belong to us. We just get to borrow them for a little bit". I thought that was very profound for such a simple statement. I think that's even true when kids grow up, move away, or get married. They're not ours to control or make decisions for - we just get to borrow them when they are little and love them always.

TLA

Libby's Thoughts

Tricia and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary yesterday. It was the first time since our wedding day that we actually were able to celebrate on November 6. We both attended a conference at the Lake of the Ozarks, and that was very nice to be able to spend some time together.

Libby stayed at home with Grandma Pat, which was great for all of us. It was definitely weird to be together without Lib, but we know that she and Grandma had a great time together.

Speaking of Libby, she decided that she wanted to help Daddy blog tonight. Here's what she had to say (I added the italics and the alignment):

k l,n mbn mn mg gv
gh b-o,vol;,.i'
=-o['0./0['v9./p['][
=\']
"=/tr vb
j] gv]' v
[] ] 'v0
'; '-;/[[

What's the translation? I'm thinking something like this: "Hey guys, where were you? I missed you. We had a good time the last couple of days. Guess what? I learned something new!"

What's the something new she learned? Here's photo-proof. Enjoy!
MK

Here's more pics - we know what our reader(s) like!

We're online again!

We finally have internet at home again after 5 days without. Here's a picture of Libby's full costume at Halloween.