Time Is TICKING!

I haven't posted in a few days because I've been a decorating machine and running all over town trying to make sure we'll be all set for BB's party on Saturday. I took some tips from my guru, Martha, and made this heart garland. It's all tangled up here in this picture (I kind of like it that way) but it will be uniform when hung up.
I also spent some (or way too much) time making a little "Happy Birthday" heart banner, made of pink and red card stock, red glitter glue for the letters, and cream-colored yarn. (The third picture has some good sunlight, but I took the other two in the evening so they're not so clear.)
My crafty aunt up in Montreal sent a lovely package for BB's birthday. This cute little handmade tag was one of the things included inside. I think I'm going to attach it to the front of this scrapbook I got for the party. Dave and I are going to have everyone sign it and include each person's picture (from the day of) with each message. It will be a great thing for BB to have when she's a little older.So all that's really left to worry about are the balloons and cake, and those will be easily taken care of (although I'm not sure who's going to blow up all the balloons...). We've got 50 confirmed guests so far and about 15 who are still unsure. Dave and I literally had to call everyone we invited because ONLY ONE person RSVP'ed by telephone (immediate family does not count). Thank you, Aunt Tami for responding in a timely fashion. Is everyone trying to make my hair fall out?!

Aside from all the party plans, Dave started his new job at a financial company downtown yesterday! I was so proud when he told me he got the job. BB's actual birthday is tomorrow, so I might have to plan a little something for dinner. I can't believe it's been a whole year already...

How can you resist that face?

Getting Down to Business!

The past couple days have gone by in a flash and it's hard to believe that tomorrow is the beginning of a brand new week.

A miracle happened Friday night. Dave and I went out. Out, out. That is a miracle by our standards. He finished finals that evening, so I went to the city to meet him. After a good 25 minutes of driving around, we finally found a parking spot and went to Wonderbar. Yes, a very college student thing to do, but we had fun dancing and just being together ALONE. It's something we REALLY needed. Alone time is very important. I also got to see Sammy and Brian, whom I haven't seen in ages. Great night.

Saturday afternoon, BB and I went to little Jasmine's first birthday. BB had a ball playing with all the kids (half of them were around the age of one) and she didn't hesitate on being a total ham. She clapped, smiled, and made faces the entire time. I personally did not take pictures (sorry, I get lazy sometimes), but Lenny & Flora (Jasmine's parents) have promised to e-mail me a link to the pictures. When I get them I will share. I love my friends to death, but I must admit it was really nice hanging out with PARENTS. It's fun to share information and milestone stories.

Today, we finally got our Christmas tree! I don't think we were planning on getting one so big -- it didn't seem so big at the farm -- but it almost touches the ceiling. I'm liking it very much, and it's my first tree as an adult. It's BB AND Dave's first tree ever. I am so glad my mom and dad did Christmas for us every single year. I have so many great memories. I want BB to have the same.
In the meantime, I've made some primitive pre-school style Christmas decorations. We've got the paper snowflakes (which I haven't made in AGES) and ye olde fashioned paper chain-link garland that is way too short to wrap all around the tree. I swear I'll make it to the craft store tomorrow so I can make some Martha Stewart-esque ornaments.

BB's winter coat arrived (finally) in the mail from L.L. Bean. It's nothing spectacular to look at, but at least I know it's warm. That's what matters most. I also ordered some shearling boots (pictured at the top) to keep those toesies warm. They fit perfectly and were a steal at $16.50. I need to buck up and buy my kid some more shoes, poor thing.

On a final note, I ordered our holiday cards this afternoon! I chose 2-day delivery, so I need to get everyone's address ASAP. Thank goodness for online coupon codes. I saved myself $5. I love BB's smile in the photo. The only way I was able to achieve this was by using the flash on my camera. I've really been trying to use natural sunlight, but it's been scarce lately and if you don't hold the camera steady (or if its subject WON'T SIT STILL) you'll get a fuzzy picture. I was getting frustrated, so I gave in. I adjusted the brightness and contrast a bit in iPhoto. I'm liking it. Here's the final product.
I'm really trying to get things done now that Christmas is a mere two weeks away (eek). Crunch time!

Get ready for some Christmas Spirit...

...because here is my Christmas tree decoration picture overload extravaganza! When I was at my mom's, we decorated her tree -- something she and I LOVE doing every year. She has saved every ornament we've ever made (since pre-school!) and I am so glad that she did. It's so neat to see old pictures and crafts made almost 20 years ago.
This one below is my favorite one. As you can see, it was made in 1989 when I was a mere 4 years old. On the other side is a picture of me taken by one of my "pre-kindergarten" teachers.
My brothers and I always used to argue every year as to who would get to hang up this fortune cookie ornament.
Here are some other oldies: an ornament made of a single egg carton slot (we each have one), your classic macaroni bell, and my favorite of my brother's ornaments -- a seashell with his picture inside. And here are some ornaments I made, probably when I was in high school.
I love my mom's tree because it's a one-of-a-kind -- and that's why it's special. I watched Martha Stewart this morning and she featured some homemade ornament ideas that were just gorgeous. I want to make the time to make some. But first, it would help to have a tree. Gotta get on that ASAP!

Here is BB in her holiday onesie and the new hairclip we received from GiddyGiddy. It's not too clear, so I'll have to get a better shot, but it's absolutely adorable!Anyway, I'm waiting for BB to wake up from her nap so I can take her to run errands with me. Tried to get out of the house a few hours ago, but she just wasn't having it. I finally ordered her winter coat (I'm awful) from L.L. Bean, so that should come in by Monday. Don't know what else to write right now. Stopping. See ya!

Here's the mail, it never fails. It makes me wanna wag my tail.

The holiday season feels officially here for me thanks in part to the lovely little gifts people have sent. Yes, they're for BB...but it kind of feels like I'm a recipient as well. We just received this adorable little snowman clip from Tina at GiddyGiddy. BB is napping right now, but when she wakes up she's going to wear this so I can take a picture. The little scarf flaps! (Don't ask me how I know the lyrics to the Blue's Clues mail song...)

I just caught a segment on the evening news about 2006's Ten Worst Toys list. At first I was very interested, but then I saw how generic the toys were. Don't get me wrong, it's good (especially as a parent) to be aware of such things, but I've never seen some of these toys ever in my life. Fear Factor Candy Challenge? Nasty...

Dave is going to have dinner in town with his management teammates tonight, an early Thanksgiving dinner if you will. It's just BB and me for dinner, so I'm thinking I might have to take a drive up the road and check out Oga's Japanese. I never contemplated going there since it's in this lame little strip mall, but I read that it's actually very nice inside. Citysearch gave it a high rating and all the reviews were very positive -- and I have one major sushi craving. I was going to try Michi Kusa, which is closer, but some reviews online said people got food poisoned...and I don't think I'm game for that tonight...

BB: KozyPal Kid of the Month!!!

Yes, that's right! In August, I bought a KozyPal shopping cart cover from Melissa. I waited a long while (a month and a half!) to get it, but it was totally worth it. I was able to choose the fabric myself and the batting inside the cover is nice and cushy. On Halloween I took a picture of BB in it when we went to Whole Foods. I submitted that picture to KozyPal's monthly contest and now we've won a $20 gift certificate and the honor of having BB's picture on the homepage! That's my baby!

I was reading someone's blog about babies and accidents (meaning poop accidents). She described a situation as a "where do I begin" accident. We've had a few of those instances here in the past couple days. The other night, I took BB out of her highchair to find a huge lump of #2 clinging to the inside of her pants. I had just given her a bath. Dave had to help me as I undressed her bottom half in the bathtub and then washed it. Just an hour ago, I pulled BB out of her carseat when we got back home. I'm wondering why she was sweating so much because her back was soaked. It was soaked, alright...with #2...and Dave wasn't around this time to give me a hand.

I seriously think that handling these predicaments become a well-developed skill. How do you pull the onesie off without smearing anything on the baby's face? Do you take the shirt off first? Or the diaper? I also forgot to mention washing the #2 off of the garment by hand before you put it in the laundry. Motherhood should be featured on that show, Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel.

No pictures today. I've tried to take some, but none are worthy of posting since the sun has been absent the past few days. The package we received in the mail yesterday was an early Christmas gift for BB: this cute onesie from Dave's friend Jillian in California.
Thanks so much, Jillian, although we have never met. It was very thoughtful of you!

Dave and I had an early dinner (with BB in tow) at this little yakitori (Japanese BBQ) place in Brighton. I tried chicken hearts for the first time. They were chewy, but good. They didn't have a single highchair. That is just so strange to me. Not even one?! Since Dave has the longer arms, he held BB most of the time (while she tried to swat at everything on the table).

Anyway, I have to go and feed BB her dinner. Later, Grey's and the BABA WAWA (if you didn't get that, see previous post) blooper special will be on. Ta ta for now!

Random Post

BB's taking a nap right now, so I'm taking a moment to write here and watch a little Martha Stewart. The woman is so bossy and full of it, but I love the ideas featured on the show. Notice how the opening of her show is always her in that kitchen "directing" someone to do this or that? Now she's interrupting some poor elderly lady. If you haven't noticed, she does it ALL the time. I just love how she called a $170 J.Crew cashmere cardigan a "very reasonable" buy. Maybe for her! She's crazy.

I haven't taken too many pictures in the past few days since the weather has been so gloomy and soggy. The sun is trying to peek out a bit, so hopefully that will be the trend for the rest of the week. It's amazing how a little sunlight can change a picture. I have to thank Sally for that advice. And even though we have somewhat outdated digital cameras (mine's a 2003 Sony Cybershot that takes 3.2 megapixel photos), they still take lovely pictures. Sally's pictures are an inspiration -- they're taken so beautifully and the subjects are always interesting, cute, pretty, or all of those things! Seriously check out her blog. You won't be disappointed.

I left my laptop at my mom's and am missing it. It's an iBook G4 that I got almost three years ago and it's been a great computer to me. I've never been a PC person, so I'm not really liking this desktop that I'm using. It's such a bore (sorry, G). If you're like me and gravitate towards more artistic activities when using a computer, an Apple is definitely the way to go.

I missed the UPS guy yesterday afternoon. He left the package at the main office, so I have to go pick it up soon because it's killing me! It sucks to get bills in the mail, but parcels are THE BEST!!! It might be BB's new GiddyGiddy clip!

Little things that brighten up my world

Wow, what a depressing post I wrote the other day! I'm happy to say I'm feeling a little bit better, so let's focus on the brighter side of things today. We've had some very exciting events happen over the weekend.

1. BB now has TWO teeth coming in. They're the middle teeth on the bottom. Although she's been in a little pain, everyone is excited for her.
2. BB also started crawling Friday evening!!! I seriously thought this day would never come since it always looks like she wants to stand instead, but I guess she really wanted the cell phone across the floor. Dave and I bought a pack 'n play and various other baby-proofing gear because BB is one mischievous little baby.
3. Third, she ate adult food -- mainly soft noodles and rice porridge. It's been fun to slip her some food here and there.

Aside from these things, BB is starting to furniture cruise and she can also say "mama, mamama." I'm very excited, but I'm sure she doesn't know that that's my name yet. The babbling is super cute, though. We're only two and a half months away from her first birthday...how time flies! Must start thinking about party ideas!

The rain has made the day very gray and soggy, but here are some pictures from last Thursday in Connecticut. We must've hit almost 70 degrees! One day of t-shirt weather was a very nice treat.

I got an email today from Tina at GiddyGiddy saying she found BB's picture (of her wearing one of their clips) on my flickr account. She was so nice and sent us a little snowman clip that I can't wait to see! Look out for BB's picture in their "Giddiness" section, coming soon! Tina, you made my week!

Time to give BB a bath. She looks awfully itchy, poor thing.