The time of our lives

Can you say babies, babies, babies? As my friend Angela put it, something's in the water but truthfully, this is nothing new, it's just the time of our lives literally. My friends are now embarking on the path of having second and third children and it's all very exciting. So many playmates! This past year, I've heard of a pregnancy or birth every couple weeks it seems and I think I've had an acquaintance or friend give birth each month so far. It's often been more than one a month. Maybe I'm just uber aware since I was one of them. It's like when you get a new car and then notice those cars everywhere.

I just found out that three of my close friends all concieved within days of eachother and are therefore due within days of eachother. Not sure how much of a secret it is so no names here. How crazy is that?

Little Maggie is going to have SO many friends. Which is great, because she is quite the social butterfly. She turned seven months old yesterday. Ready to crawl (on all fours and rocking back and forth as well as doing the army crawl) and happy as a clam. Whenever we are out with her, everyone asks, "Is she always this happy? It's so great to see a happy baby." And then it makes me think about our day together and how she really is this happy all the time unless something is seriously bothering her, like hunger, sleep, or frustration and even then it's easy to fix.

Here's Maggie with little Ella (Erin and Eric's little one - 2 months old).

Workin' girl

I'm back to work for real now (P/T). Hit a few speedbumps in the beginning, but I'm figuring it all out as I go.

This morning, for example, I'm eating kix as I'm driving to work (yeah, not very safe at all but I like to live on the edge) and I was scrunching my hair with curl gel as I had the heater pointed at me full blast. It actually worked quite well!

I've been pumping a little here and there since she was born, but now it's a serious business and I experienced some frustration with a poorly-working pump so pump #2 is in action now. It's such a funny thing to go through (the act and art of pumping, that is) but at the end of the day I feel good that I can continue to feed Maggie momma's milk. It makes me feel more connected to her as I go about my day and it has such great nutritional value.

I have lots of support at work - three of us gave birth this spring and another co-worker is due in November. We also have a new dad in the office that can relate and many other parents of older children. So, it's all good and what makes me especially comfortable with it all is that our family is watching her. She's in really good hands. For the future, I'm on the search for the right daycare in case one day we need it. This week I toured a feel-good one that is definitely being tucked away in my tool box.

Although at this point I haven't felt like I need work to balance out my life, going back has its advantages (besides bringing in income of course). Not only do I get to see my co-workers and friends, it gives me a little time to myself and the opportunity to do errands and have lunch sans kiddo.

I can tell you though, there is nothing like racing home to your baby after the end of the day and seeing her smiling face when you walk in the door. Maggie loves giving hugs and it's the best thing ever. And oh, did I mention the house smelling of beef stew on a rainy day and seeing your own mom's smiling face as well? Makes life that much sweeter! Add Michael to the mix and his mom's homemade flour tortillas, and I'm a happy, happy girl.

Stormy weather

Lots of rain and wind yesterday. Made for a crazy day, but what a treat! I hear a ski resort or two have officially opened. Fall is here and winter is on it's way. As the storm was clearing yesterday evening...

Mammoth

Last camping trip of the season (thank goodness!). We joined my co-workers on a group trip to Convict Lake, just outside the town of Mammoth. It was nothing what I expected. I pictured a forested landscape but it was high desert with a nice shimmery lake and such a vast rocky backdrop that made for some incredible scenery. Highlights from the weekend included the pretty drive, the group dinners, visiting with co-workers and their families and seeing all the kids play together. Unlike some of my co-workers, we were campground-bound most of the time but it allowed us to get to know one of my co-workers and her mom better. I work with some really great people. Maggie got her sleepy time in and we were happy campers, literally!

It was a good night

Last weekend I went dancing with some girlfriends to celebrate my friend Jessie's birthday. It was a great time...tapas, sangria, one man band, and dancing. Watching the music videos and hearing new music was mesmerizing. Watching Jessie dance on the podium surrounded by dry ice and strobe lights getting her groove on...priceless.
Have you heard this one yet? It's a REALLY good one. Makes you want to hop up and go crazy!

I Gotta Feeling

Other good one...

Boom Boom Pow

What about Lonely Island (SNL parodies with Andy Samberg)? They crack me up. There's lots of good ones. I'll let you do the you tube searching on this one, they are a bit explicit.

(Couldn't figure out how to embed imeem songs...do we really have to pay?)

Green halloween

This is an interesting idea. I have a lot of the same questions they list here. My mom would love this idea-she is a dental hygenist and always encouraged us to eat healthy growing up and pointed out how much sugar was in the sweets we ate and how that led to cavities down the road. Which, I ended up with and I'm baffled how hubby has not, even though it seems he eats as much or more sweets. That and braces are a sore spot with me :-) I always remember my mom saying that there were X number of tablespoons of sugar in a can of soda. Is it three? Her nutritional parenting definitely shaped how I eat today, but on Halloween, isn't that a day to splurge a little?

I enjoy holidays and Halloween is no exception. It's always been parties in the past, but this year, we have more to celebrate. We have plans to visit a wool mill on Halloween day, followed by some possible trick-or-treating that evening. Regardless, Maggie is going to be a banana. Should Michael and I dress like monkeys? Maggie has specifically requested that Eden come over and trick-or-treat with her. Last year as Michael and I left the house heading out to a party on Halloween, we drove through the masses of children just up the street and couldn't believe our eyes. Must be a hot spot.