Design your own mate

I met my husband in 1998, but I designed my husband in 1992.

My bestest friend and I had a fun idea one night. We would write a list of all the attributes that we wanted in our perfect mate and we would NOT settle for less. BFF's list was well over 100 attributes; mine had a little over 50 items.

What kinds of things did I put on the list? I decided this was to be a serious list so I didn't put things on it like "Must be cute" or "must be awesome" (I was 22 - "Awesome" was part of my vernacular). Instead, I put things on it like "Must never abuse me physically or mentally" (I had cause - that will have to be another post) or "Must not abuse alcohol or drugs" (again, I had cause- ack that's gonna be one interesting post).

About a year - maybe a year and a half - after Moo and I got married, I realized that Moo fulfilled EVERY SINGLE ATTRIBUTE on the list. Just last year, after seeing the movie The Secret, I realized that I put things into motion to get the person who fulfilled my requirements when I sat down and made a REAL plea to the universe to have this person in my life.

If you decided you wanted a particular experience or thing in your life, what would it be and what attributes would you want it to have?

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Happy Holidays Almost!

Moo and I took Phoebe to see Santa today. Yes, I know it's November 22. Yes, I know that it's not even Thanksgiving yet. But Moo and I decided that the lines would be obnoxious after Thanksgiving and decided to go ahead and do it today.

No, you may not see the picture yet. It's going to be posted the day after Thanksgiving.

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Only child

I am an only child.

So far, my daughter is an only child. Our fertility journey with her was not as painful or arduous as others' journey. But it made an impression on me that I will not soon forget and I am thankful for that impression.

Why am I thankful? Because I don't know that I would be as grateful for my daughter as I am now. She is a miracle. She is my miracle.

But as I said, she is an only child and will probably remain that way. I have said that I don't want to make a decision on whether to try again until Phoebe is at least a year old.

I asked my mother one time why she only had one child. She told me because she felt that she couldn't give another child everything that she could give to me. I never understood it. I thought she meant material goods.

But now I understand. How can I give another child the same love and attention and TIME that I am giving Phoebe now? My heart has plenty of room - I learned that when Phoebe was born. But what about time and attention? How can I possibly give another child that without depriving Phoebe?

As I said, I'm not making any hard and fast decisions until July. But it's always at the back of my mind.

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Food, Glorious Food

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Giant Baby

Phoebe had a very good 4 month check-up on Monday.

She's up to 15 pounds 2 ounces and an amazing 26-1/2 inches. The kid is TALL!! I didn't realize how tall she was until I was sitting in the well waiting room at the peds office and met a 9 month old little girl. She was toddling around and was fascinated by Phoebe. The little girl kept coming over looking at Phoebe and wanted to take the baby with her.

Conversation with the little girl's mom turned to how big our babies were at birth. The little girl was a healthy 7 pounds at birth and was now up to 17 pounds and 26 inches. I oohed and ahhed over the little girl.

When Phoebe was measured - again coming in at a tall 26-1/2 inches tall - I realized that my little pumpkin was TALLER than the little girl in the waiting room.

But I'm always reminded that she comes from tall people. All of Moo's family are tall and my dad's family are all giants (mom's family were all average height).

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Phoebe is grumpy today

Not a lot of posting - or sleeping for that matter - going on.

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4 months old

My daughter turned 4 months old yesterday. She's getting bigger every day and as this post updates to my blog, we're on our way to her 4 month well baby exam. Yes, there will be shots. But overall, I'll find out how amazing the doctor thinks she is...







I sat her in our favorite chair for these shots. She's such a happy baby. She can't sit up on her own, but she wants to sit up all the time. She doesn't like to lay on her tummy or on her back for that matter. She can't see that way.






Her little face lights up my world.

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We start 'em young in these parts

Phoebe with her Daddy at Starbucks.











Yeah, we start 'em young on the java juice...














Not really - don't get your panties in a wad!!

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When you're almost 4 months old, fun is cheap

Phoebe will be 4 months old on Monday... this is one of her favorite games: Put something over her eyes, she starts giggling, take it off and she giggles again.




This is a sock.


Hilarity ensues....

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So what do you do with your baby?

This may seem like an idiotic question, but what do you do with a baby after they stop sleeping all the time?

Let me expand on this a bit.

My daughter is 3 months old. She's awake a lot more now and I don't know exactly what to do with her. She likes to sit in my lap, so we do that a lot.

She'll sit in the bouncy for a few minutes so I can do stuff in the kitchen.

She occasionally decides that her swing is not some sort of medieval torture device and will swing in it for 20-30 minutes before remembering that it is her mortal enemy.

I can also put her on the floor on the cute little play mat I got for her, but she doesn't like to be alone so I have to sit there with her while she's on it.

I also occasionally put her in the carrier and she has a good time there for a while (here she's trying to eat her hand - a favorite past time).

Of course, now that I look at this list, I realize I've got a lot of options.. so maybe y'all could just suggest some other activities??

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