Doing Great at Hayden Lake

Hello Bloggers,
We are here at Hayden Lake and having a wonderful time. I'm taking lots of pic's and video to share at a later date. The sun is out, people are in boats on the lake and the baby is sleeping (Ahhhhhh). It's hard to get internet, so I won't be able to post very often. Maddie has finally gotten on Pacific Time and doing great. Still no teeth :( Love seeing the fam and laughing all the time...

We're Off!!!!

Good Morning All,

Well, the long awaited Idaho trip is here. We are waiting for the car service to pick us up and take us to Dulles to catch our flight. We stop in Vegas and then on to Spokane. I'll take lots of pic's and we are also planning to video. I can't explain how excited I am. I haven't seen everyone in my family since April and even then I didn't see my brother and his family. This will be a great trip!! We're bringing our computer and hoping to be able to access internet with the wireless card. If so, then I will probably blog about our trip. In 12 hours, we'll be at Hayden Lake :)

I'm reading the BEST BOOK!

Hello,

I had to write briefly to say that I'm reading the BEST BOOK ever. I'm loving it. Maybe I love it because it seems to really speak to me where I'm at in life and how I feel inside. Or maybe I love it because the writer is from Northern CA and she writes about Mount Tam, Marin, San Francisco, and the fog. No matter what, I really recommend it. It's by Anne Lamott and it's called Grace (Eventually). Read it.
Another thing has really been on my mind. If you know my best friend Kirstie, or even if you don't and you believe at all in the power of prayer, please pray for her brother-in-law, Alex. He is/has been suffering for so long with cancer and it seems as though his fight is becoming more of a struggle. He's young-early 30's-with a loving and devoted wife (Kirstie's sister, Amy) and two children (Jordan and Abby). Pray for Alex and Amy to have strength of different kinds and for comfort.

Tuesday 6-19-07

Good Morning Bloggers,

Well, we are in the final countdown to our trip to Idaho. Getting really excited and planning to start really thinking today about what I need to pack. It's so much stuff when you have a baby to bring! Anyways, I want to announce that my good friend Sarah Slusher (aka Hanley) had her second child on Sunday. His name is Jackson and he was 7lbs. 7oz. I'm really happy for her and her husband and her other little boy, Ethan. So, congrats Sarah!!
I want to recommend something to all of you. If you haven't had a dinner party at your house recently you should invite some friends over for fondue.
Last night Gabe and I had Bobby, Shannon, Nick and Amy over for fondue dinner and dessert and it was a blast! We drank wine, talked, laughed, ate, and just enjoyed our Monday night :) Maddie went to sleep before everyone came and then she woke towards the end of the night-she came down just in time to munch on a strawberry for dessert :) It was great. Sometimes when you're going to have people over, you worry about how nice your house looks, how good the food will be, what the conversation will turn out like, etc. But, if you take all that away and just think about how fun it will be to do something other than watch TV and really connect with people, you will see that all the planning, cooking and cleaning are worth it. I recommend it highly!!!
Well, Maddie and I have Gymboree today-I'll let you know if anything interesting happens. I plan to take pictures of her there, so I'll post those later. Enjoy this day.

Happy Father's Day

"A Daughter Needs a Dad to show her that true love is
unconditional."


From: Why A Daughter Needs A Dad
by Gregory E. Lang

(Picture is from the Waterfront Festival we went to last night in Old Town)
More pic's below...

TGIF

Hello! It's Friday and another looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong day of teething! Poor baby. My nerves are shot and I know it's not her fault. This is definitely one of those times, I can appreciate what my mom and any other mom has gone through with teething children! It's difficult. I think Gabe is buying whiskey on the way home-for her gums and then maybe we might have a nip or two :) Nah, I don't really like whiskey, I'll probably just have a glass of Pinot. Maddie and I just got home from the grocery store and from World Market (which I still call Cost Plus). I love it there. All the jewelry from other cultures, and scarves and purses. Maddie always gets some sort of musical instrument when we were there; today it's a green frog tambourine :) This entry isn't all that entertaining-sorry. Tomorrow we are going to the Waterfront Festival in Old Town and that should be fun and hopefully we can take some pictures.
One other thing. Maddie has started doing something really funny. She scrunches up her nose, and blows in and out through it really fast. Then she laughs-she cracks herself up and me too :)
Oh, and starting 2 days ago she is finally babbling! She says "dadadadada, gagagagaga." Genius.

Simple Things

Hello and Happy Thursday,

I titled this entry "Simple Things" because that is at the forefront of my mind this morning. It's a beautiful, gray, wet day here. Strange as that may seem, I'm a little sick of the stifling, 95 degree heat with 100 percent humidity. We had a huge storm last night and Gabe and I stood outside on the back patio (covered of course) to just watch it. It was amazing. Lots of thunder, lightening, rain and wind. And it occurred to me as I watched the storm, that I loved it. How simple is that? Nature doing it's thing is really beautiful to me. Some other simple things I love:

• chamomile tea with honey
• reading while the baby naps
• napping
• eating chocolate while drinking a glass of Pinot Noir
• brightly colored flowers
• reconnecting with a long-lost friend (I recently did :)
  
• soft fur
• the smell of Madeline (especially after a bath)
• "Lullaby" by the Dixie Chicks (aka song #6)
  
• a book that makes me want to be a better version of myself
• that fleeting feeling of peace

I'm sure there's a million more simple things I love, but the Direct TV guy is here, the dogs are growling at him and Madeline has woken up from her morning nap.

If you comment, please list some simple things you love- I'd love to know :)

Take 1 minute and WATCH THIS

My dear friend, Natasha in Australia, read my earlier post and brought this to my attention. Please take a moment to watch it and then to realize what your real perception of beauty is...


http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/flat4.asp?id=6909

(copy & paste to view)

An Addition to -Rant- The Issue with Eating

I've just read my newest blog entry to my husband and he then asked me to google him. I did so, and here's a letter to the editor of Time Magazine that he wrote at the ripe old age of 17. Who knew we had so much in common?

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,982428,00.html

(copy & paste)

His is the 3rd letter down! Begins with "Thanks for making me feel guilty..."

- Rant - The Issue with Eating

Happy Tuesday Bloggers! I am just getting home from an afternoon at Gymboree with Madeline. We had fun; played with bubbles, the big parachute, and some drums. After class, we went with some of the other mom's from class and had a bite to eat at Panera.
(Here's where the rant starts). So, my question is: Why do some women feel the need to point out what they do and do not eat? Meaning, why do they feel that everyone else at the table is interested in their particular dietary choices; especially if NO ONE asked? You know the ones-"Only fat free things for me," "I don't do carbs anymore," "No sugar," "I'm on an all soup diet..."(I could continue, but you get the picture) The point is that we are all new mom's and not necessarily at the same weight we were before these babies came along- AND THAT'S OKAY! I want to scream it to them. Why does a scale determine our mood? We are trying to watch what we eat, maybe even eating smaller portions, or making better choices when we can- but, isn't that our own personal business? When does watching what you eat become an obsession? Is it when you mention what you eat or don't eat anymore (you say this word longingly for effect) to anyone with ears? It drives me nuts. My personal opinion is that people should really watch what they say; because without meaning to do so, you may make someone feel bad for eating something you no longer eat. I mean who are the role models for this way of thinking? Who are you trying to look like? Why can't we try to be happy where we're at and if we're not, then we take personal steps to feel better?
I would love to go back to a time (childhood) where we played, laughed and ate to our hearts content. This is the way I want Madeline to live...

Pictures from Sunday "A day off"

Gabe & I

Bobby & Gabe


Bobby, Shannon & Gabe

Sunday " A day off"

Hey Bloggers,
I'm glad you checked in. I titled this "A day off" because Gabe and I got to have a whole day to ourselves; well really just without the baby. We woke up early (not as early as Carrie and Taylor :) and dropped the baby off at Poppi and Grammy's house. Then it was off to Mass. Yes, I said Mass. Most of you know that I'm Christian, but Gabe and I are church shopping and so we've included Mass for the past 2 Sundays. As for today, let's just say we won't be visiting that church again-not really my speed. Next Sunday is a Christian church, so I'm looking forward to it. Anyways, we met friends, Bobby and Shannon, for church and then we went to brunch. Terrific omelet. Off to tailgate and Sangria (homemade by Shannon) and excellent. I'm including pictures of the next adventure of the day which was a professional soccer game between DC United and the New York Red bulls. DC won and we had a blast (see pic's above). Home now with baby and dogs and feeling pretty tired, but satisfied none the less. Tomorrow is a whole new week and I'm proud to say that yes, I do know what day it is.

Oh, and for those of you who care, we are doing frozen washcloths and Tylenol for the teething!

Random question of the day is: Do you like or hate running into people around town? Meaning, do you choose to avoid those that you don't know well, or do you look at it as an opportunity?

Collage of the last 8 months

Thank you!

Thank you everyone for all the responses! It is so much fun. We are having quite the morning. Lots of teething going on and that makes for not-too-happy-a-baby. Tylenol put her to sleep last night, but during the day we are just trying to deal with it. Any advice from all you mom's out there? No teeth are showing just yet, but lots of drool ;) We have a busy day ahead, so hopefully there will be something fun to share later. xoxo

First Blog

Hello! I thought I could start a blog considering the amount of time I spend reading other people's! So, here goes. I'm online daily, so I do plan to write something daily-although, with an 8 month old baby, that may get difficult. She's napping now -Yeah- So, it is in the 90's today here in VA. Sooooooooooooooo hot. It's not only hot, but also humid and muggy and the air quality aint that great, so it's pretty much indoors for us. Although, Gabe and I are taking Maddie swimming this afternoon when the sun has gone down a bit. She loves it and doesn't seem to have any fear associated with the water. This is very good because I don't want her to be afraid of water like I am. Speaking of which, we are getting ready to go on vacation to Idaho! Usually when I tell people we're going to Idaho, they wonder if that's where I'm from, or they just say "Why?!?" Funny. I explain about Claudia's Family's cabin and then Aunt Susan's cabin and then Mom's 50th birthday and the fact that we all live in different places so it's also a reunion of sorts.... That's a lot to say in one breath. So, Gabe and I are excited. I'm excited to have a break from here; not that it's bad, but sometimes I lose track of what day it is and not in a good way. A good way would be, "Oh, I'm so relaxed and having a great time; wonder what day it is?" The way I'm talking is "Is it Monday or Tuesday?" Then I think "Wait, it doesn't really matter. Mad and I will probably be doing the usual-breakfast, play, nap, dress, Target, grocery store, maybe visit Gabe, walk dogs, go for a walk, etc." You get the point. Sometimes my life really is just a bunch of Thursday's strung together (Office Space). Well, hopefully you're not bored yet. Maybe something fantastic will happen this afternoon and I can post again later.