There's Been a Ladybug Sighting!!

And a Glow Worm Sighting...



And, my first piece of refrigerator art...


Pretty much a full week, if you ask me!! I'm going to do a bullet post since that is about all the creativity I can muster tonight.

>It only took a week, but MaryAlice has had the snotty, runny nose that I knew would come soon enough with daycare...but geesh, only a week??

>Why is it I can't seem to get out the door in the mornings without having to change two poopy diapers?

>Daycare is going well. For the past two mornings, she's waved good-bye and blown a kiss. By 3pm, I'm watching the clock until I can go pick her up. She's tired and hungry, so I get to feed her dinner, bathe her, give the coveted bottle and maybe a little playtime/book read, but she's usually asleep by 7pm, so weekends are going to be all about family time.

>I was so excited to receive my first piece of refrigerator art, my eyes actually welled up...and I'm not a crier. I think MaryAlice's color selection and the flow of the lines demonstrate some real talent...almost Picasso-ish!

>Not too many Trick-or-Treaters this year, so it looks like I'll be eating candy for awhile. I'm okay with that. I may even go turn my porch light off.

That's all for now. I'm off to write more thank-you notes. I mailed about a dozen thank-you notes from China at the end of August...a friend of mine just received hers yesterday..seriously???

Amazing to See the Changes

I've been meaning to upload some videos to the blog, but at 8pm every night and a list of "Things To Do" staring at me...blogging is not a priority. It amazes me to watch the video of MaryAlice in China and see how much she has changed over the past 2 months. It reminds me to videotape more often. She just so happens to be wearing the same dress in the videos, which is kinda funny.

Water Fun!

You may look at these photos and see a baby in a Blow-up pool, but I like to think of it as an At-Home Pulmonary Function Test. No COPD here. For my next trick, I will inflate a bounce house without mechanical assistance. I decided I needed to get on the stick and get her in it before it starts to cool down here. I haven't taken her to the beach yet and hope to be able to do that, as well.

We've started the transition to daycare, or "school" as I like to call it. So far, so good. I think the transition is more for my benefit than hers. I'm having her stay a little longer each day and will work up to full time. I get a schedule each week of what they are doing in about 9 different categories (gross motor, fine motor, language, music, socialization, outside activity, circle time, etc). I cheat and sing the songs to her the day before and on the way to school, so she recognizes them and can clap at the right time. LOL! I love watching her interact with the other kids...as much as 1 year olds interact with each other!! Usually it's, "Hey, gimme that toy". I can't wait to start getting crafts to decorate my refrigerator.

Other than that, its pretty routine around here and that's okay. Routine is our friend.

Read This Post At Your Own Risk

You've been warned. Some of these photos are not for those with weak bellies. I suspect that they will become the classic, "Pull them out to show the new boyfriend" photos. I may start a separate photo album just for those type pictures.

This first one was taken at my sister's house last week where we enjoyed some great food. MaryAlice REALLY enjoyed it!!




I had to show off her lastest trick. She loves it when I blow in her face. She tilts her head back, opens her mouth and closes her eyes. It's like she's breathing in the breathe of gods...or has been smoking something funny!!



You can see that she's sportin' a shiner. Oh, the trials and tribulations of learning to walk. It's almost gone now, but I was afraid to take her out in public for fear that someone would call DCF. She's taking 8-9 steps on her own which is great, but she gives me a heart attack everytime she does it.



MaryAlice loves cats!! Not sure how cats feel about her, but she doesn't care. She squeals when the kitty puppets come on her Einstein video. She looks for my cat every morning and makes a sound that I think is her version of "meow, meow". Here she is meeting my sister's cat...or rather, my sister's family's cat. My sister claims no responsibility or ownership of the cat.




We received MaryAlice's Certificate of Citizenship in the mail last week, so we ventured down to our local Social Security Office to apply for her SS card. OMG!! We waited 2 1/2 hours for what ended up taking 9 minutes to process! 9 minutes! MaryAlice overdosed on Cheerios and fell asleep on the way home completely messing up her schedule. Let me tell you, its all about "The Schedule". Anywho, I treated her to some Chef Boyardee Ravioli (Bad Mommy!) and I'm not sure if I'll ever get that orange tint off her skin. She loved it!



Here is a picture of her little blow up pool I bought her. I can't find my adapter to blow up the pool with a bike pump, so I've been doing it "manually". It should be ready by next summer.



I'm back now to finish this post...So, we also visited my parents last weekend as well. My Dad probably took 600 photos in 48 hours. I know he gave me a CD with the photos. Heck, I think he gave me 3 CD's with the photos (he's a firm believer in extra copies)!! For the life of me, I can't find them. If you saw my car for the trip, you'd understand why. I'm trying to be a minimalist and I always laughed at new parents and all their baby equipment! HA! That won't be me! HA! Who knew??

Anyway, MaryAlice visited with "all the people". She performed her tricks on cue, like we practiced and was generally a good sport. She was even the topic of the homily at Mass on Sunday and after about 7 minutes, let Monsignor know it was time to wind it up!!

Once again, we had some great food. I mention this because I really did enjoy having some home cooked food. Why is it food always taste better when someone else cooks it? I've lost about 10 lbs since coming home from China, which is stange since I'm craving junk food!! I tend to focus on feeding MA and forget to eat while she's eating. I'm sure that will fix itself soon enough. Gotta run...she's awake!

Pumpkin Patch With MA

Some Pro Photos

Here's a sample of some photos I had taken today. We're still doing some editing (removing my double chin!) and I'll add those later. Trying to get a one-year old to cooperate for a photos session is like herding cats. And I need to make sure I DON'T use that same hair color next time do my hair!! Too red!!