cuteness has a birthday

Delaney is my niece, in case I've confused anyone. She turned one yesterday and we celebrated with some squishy lemon cupcakes (and this is her sign for "drink".)

research

these wall decals are such a good idea. I'm going to file this under "B" for "brilliant".

brilliant

from the Shoebox website.

I want this...

It turns out, I have a thing for dogwood branches...and tiny fake birds.

an update

Ryan and I went in for another I.U.I on January 13th. We waited anxiously for two weeks to find out whether it worked. We found out yesterday morning that it did not.

Yesterday was hard for me. One of the more difficult since the miscarriage. I left half-way through the day so I could go home and wrap myself in a blanket. There are seven women on my team at work. Currently THREE of them are pregnant. There are frequent stories about morning sickness and expanding bellies. I try really hard to be a good listener and a good friend. But some days I just can't do it. Yesterday was one of those days.

I can't seem to escape the reminder that it's happening for everybody else. And don't even get me started on Hollywood...rumors of twins for Brad and Angelina, the birth of baby Harlow to malnourished Nicole Richie, the long awaited (thought to be impossible) pregnancy for Nicole Kidman, even Britney's 16 year old sister (who is apparently giving up her baby "Juno" style so her mom can raise it). EVERYBODY is stinkin' pregnant!

So we will keep trying. We're not giving up yet. We will go in for another I.U.I. on February 8th. We will find out if that one worked on February 24th. (that also happens to be the week of our Caribbean cruise so we will be surrounded by friends and family either way.)

And I know it will happen. I'm not losing my faith that it will happen for us. I'm just having some trouble being a grown-up right now and not feeling sorry for myself. Envy is a sin for a reason. It's a gross feeling to look at somebody else and want what they have. (Even if it involves stretch marks and throwing up all the time.)

congratulations are in order - again!

On a very special (freezing cold) Saturday in January, a beautiful baby girl was born to Christopher Nelson and Christopher Roady. She was conceived in a "Gene Machine" booth at Dave and Buster's while an anxious crowd watched and waited. A name has not been chosen, but we have no doubt the proud papas will come up with something beautiful. Congratulations you two! We could not be happier.

so pretty

I've just decided this is my inspiration for the new kitchen. I can't even get over that pale green tile with the white cabinets and black marble countertops - gorgeous. And the dark slate floor...I think I'm the only person in the world who would tear up hardwoods to put down slate.

the littlest passenger

Delaney's first flight. She did REALLY well! We were all very impressed. The people behind us had a screaming kid and Delaney just slept...and gave him the stink-eye.

Listening to the safety instructions. Something about helping your children first...blah, blah, blah.


Ready for take-off, sort of. (Not quite ready to store her in that over-head bin just yet.)


Checking the wings for any dead birds or rusty spots.


Back on land.


Cngratulating herself on a job well done.


Ready to see Miami!!

i'm totally doing this!!!

Rock Poster birth announcements from Rattle-n-Roll:

who knew?

Hey! It turns out, there are people who read my blog! :) I just got an email from the fabulous Lindsay Landis who did some research on the Sea Oat thing. She ALSO recently became the mother of TWO so I'm going to pause for "congratulations"! :) (hey, Linds...if you send me a picture, I can post a picture of her on my blog! Is it too early to exploit your baby on the internet? Let me know. I'm unclear about these things.)

Okay, so back to Sea Oats. Apparently there is no discernable difference between a sea oat and a regular old farm weed...but you be the judge. Perhaps your judgy eyes are better than my mid-western allergy eyes that don't know about fancy, beachy east-coast-type things.

And hey...thanks for reading! :) You have no idea how happy that makes me!

the thing I over-heard today

"Hush Puppies make glasses?"

"Yeah, man."

"Wow...that's really interesting."

**And by "interesting", I think he meant SUPER GAY!

signs, signs, everywhere signs...

We were recently in Miami (New Year's Eve and a little thing called the ORANGE BOWL...more on that later), but here are a few of my favorite signs:
Oh...what I wouldn't give for more time in the day.

I don't even know what this means.

This is pirate for "DANGER"!

Apparently, Miami keeps the manatees separate from all of the other animals. Racists.

...at ALL TIME!

I understand not wanting guns on the beach, but what's with this fear of incendiary devices? If there's an actual fire, wouldn't the convenient proximity of the OCEAN come in handy?? I'm just sayin'...calm down about the fires, Miami.

Um...first you have to tell me what a sea oat looks like.

There's a phone number listed if you're interested. $500,000 sounds SUPER reasonable to me!

congratulations are in order

This is Chloe McKay Beck. She was born on New Year's Eve to two wonderfully deserving parents. But seriously, who could NOT love this baby? She's totally squishy and perfect.



This is Chloe's mama - Leigh. (who looks JUST like her precious little bundle.)



This is Chloe's daddy - Jeff. (who gave his daughter the CUTEST baby hair-line I've ever seen.)

cuteness in jammies

This was Christmas number four. Oh, the cuteness. Can you count all of the babies?