one more thing

also....because of the lost time on the roadside.....Bagel Bagel was CLOSED!!! I am so upset!!! I have been drooling for a TBCC from Bagel Bagel for months now and who knows how long it will be until I am back in Tallahassee!!!!

Trip to Pensacola

Lily and I got home yesterday and I have so much work to do in order to get caught up. I was excited to get on here and tell you all about our adventures, so I'll get started. Thursday evening I got Lily all ready for bed and then got on the road. Just as planned, she slept the entire trip. Yay!! We got to St. Pete in good time too. Lily woke up and played with Nichole and Chris and like the little Angel that she is, went right back to sleep. The next morning Lily, Nichole and I got on the road about 8:30. No traffic or anything. Lily slept all the way until about an hour out of Tallahassee. Nichole moved to the back seat and sang to her until we got there. Wow Tally has gotten congested!! Traffic was horrible but we made our way to Gordos for lunch. We sat outside and laughed to ourselves about the way that college students react to a baby. We had Lily dressed in a Halloween onesie and a pumpkin hat so she got quite a bit of attention. The girls thought she was cute and the boys were frightened to death. Back on the road to Pensacola! Lily got a little cranky on this leg of the trip but thankfully Nichole is a good singer.
It was raining off and on and the weather was a bit cold so we decided that Lily shouldn't go to the game. Nichole's mom took care of Lily and Nichole and I went off to our old High School. They changed a few roads so it took us a bit to find the place and we felt pretty stupid, but we made it. Once we got there we immediately saw a few familiar faces. It was so fun to be back there. I felt giddy. I couldn't believe it had been so long but it felt just like yesterday. Everyone had grown up, but no one had changed. It was so nice. Our school lost the game and the current students didn't have much of a presence, so some things HAD changed. Way back in 94, EVERYONE was at the game.....Especially homecoming! After the game we all went out for a couple of beers and had a wonderful time.
Saturday morning we got up early to go walk in the Strides Against Breast Cancer. Charlene had spoiled little Lily and let her sleep in the big bed with her. It took us too long to get organized and we ended up missing the walk :(
So, we took a tour of Pensacola and talked about old times and how much everything had changed.
Pensacola beach was kinda sad. Just a rough guess, but I would say that there are only about 10% of the houses that there used to be. The main beach area where people come to eat, drink and shop has been put back together, but it will take a decade to build all those bungalows back. Many lots had only a mailbox (see pic) or a slab of concrete. Some lots had picnic tables and lawn furniture as if the people are using it like a campground. I think I would do that too. I would stay there in a tent if I had to.
We had lunch at the beach and I had to include that cute cute picture of Lily for 2 reasons. One being that her face is so cute, the other to show our American over-indulgence. Nichole and I ate so much on this trip that I am sure we both gained 10 pounds!
Saturday night we were supposed to get together with our old friends, but being the losers that we are, no one called or returned our phone calls. And since we had Lily with us we couldn't go bar-hopping, so we just stayed in and took it easy.
Sunday we leisurely got on the road. Just short of Tallahassee we had a blow-out. Nichole was driving and she handled it really well. Even though I have a full size spare, neither one of us trusted our strength to change it ourselves. We waited on the roadside for about an hour for roadside assistance to change it for us. More bad news....The spare is dry-rotted. :( AND when the tire blew it ripped off half my fender! Always an adventure when I travel right?
We got into Tallahassee at about 6:30PM and could not find a tire shop that was open. Thankfully we still have a friend there who could help us cut off the part of the fender that was dragging on the spare. We had no choice but to risk driving on the bad tire. We drove 60 MPH all the way to St. Pete. We didn't make it there until almost 2AM, but we made it.
Yesterday morning Lily and I went and bought 5 new tires in St. Pete before we came home. She cried all the way across alligator alley where there is no where to stop, so by the time I got home I was pretty frazzled. I think I am going to hold off on vacations for awhile. or at least until Ross can go with me, Lily and I seem to have bad travel ju-ju.

2nd Aniversary

Last Wednesday was Ross and I's 2nd anniversary. We had Brandi come over and babysit and we went out for a nice dinner at Argentango. We ate there the night we got married too! Dinner was nice and we had a great time. We are old losers though because instead of partying our asses off like we used to do, we came straight home. We're DORKS!

Working on my abs

Some people say that laughing is good for your abs. Lily's new pacifier definately has me working my abs! I didn't really want Lily to get attached to a pacifier because I hate to see that kid that is 4 years old and you have no idea what they look like because that Dummy is always in thier mouth. But, I just HAD to buy this one. Spent WAY too much on it too, but it is worth every dime! I'm going to wake Ross up from his nap just to show him.

Scoot machine

Lily is far

from being able to crawl yet, but that doesn't stop her from trying to get around. The top photo was taken about 3 minutes after I layed her down under this toy. She started out with her feet at the bottom (bottom left of pic) and her head was at about the same place it is in this picture. Somehow or another she managed to lift her butt up over the side of the toy and scoot around like that. She was trying to get to her nightlight on the wall! I immediately started baby-proofing her room.

The other pictures are of her sitting all on her own. She is so big now. And as you can see in the close one, she has developed a major Drool problem. Her chin is always wet and her clothes all around her neck and your shoulders too.

We are on the road again!! This weekend Lily and I are going to my old stomping grounds! We are going to Pensacola for my high school's homecoming. I haven't been there in ages. The last time I was there was '02 for my mom's funeral and that was only for one night. Before that, I don't know '00 maybe? The last time I lived there was for the summer of '97, for only 3 months, and before that was '94!! I probably won't know my way around anymore. I am very excited. I am not looking forward to the 10 hours of drive time though....yuck!

Laughs and Giggles

Lily now laughs and giggles all the time. It makes taking care of her so rewarding! She is getting to be so much fun. She likes to fly like an airplane and bounce on your knee. She has learned to roll over half-way. She can roll from her back to her side and from her side to her back. This makes nappy changes more of a challenge because she thinks rolling is fun and won't stay still anymore. It is only a matter of time before she is going to be squirming all over the place!

Lily's hair keeps falling out so....

We got her a wig! We didn't want her to feel self-concious because all the other babies have hair.

Squirrel on the screen

The other day while Lily and I were on the back portch doing photos for the web and I noticed that a squirrel was on the roof of our screen. The entire portch is screened, but only half has a roof, so half of the top is screen, and this is the side the squirrel was on. I thought it was funny that it was walking on the screen. Then it got even funnier when it started to run down the side of the screen. I guess its little claws can hold it up there. Zelda had a fit and kinda pinned the squirel up there. This went on for about half an hour. This movie is the squirel finally getting down.

Lily has been working so hard at this!!

Lily has been working so hard at holding her head up! She still can't push herself up on her arms when she is laying on her stomach, but she has gotten pretty good at holding her head otherwise. The talking video is at 8AM. She loves the mornings and will talk and talk when she first gets up. It helps to wake me up because it is so funny. It took me about 20 takes to get it on video though because she seems to stop everything and stare at the camera.

Good day today...Happy Tuesday

Today was a nice day. I got enough sleep last night that waking up at 7:30 wasn't so terrible. Lily was in a good mood most of the day. Ross let me take an hour and a half nap. I sold over $200 worth of merchandise. And I got two sewing projects finished!
My to-do list is still very very long, but I'm making my way through slowly but surely.

Lily loves it outside

These days I am so behind on my work because I haven't yet figured out how to get things done and take care of Lily at the same time. And since she doesn't like to nap much, I never have time. But now that the weather has cooled just slightly, we can actually stand to be outside for an hour. So, I turned her bassinet into a play yard (the PC version of a play pen) and set up to do my photos outside. It is strange that she likes it better, because inside she has all these things to entertain her and outside she just eats her hand. But it works for me...so I won't complain.
and yes...that IS a Halloween outfit already.

blah blah blah

I've got the blahs lately. I am so bored and I am starting to get cabin fever again. I felt this way from time to time during my pregnancy too. I guess I am just too social of a person to 100% enjoy working from home. I am longing for conversations with real adults....face to face! Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy talking to Ross and Ned and Veronika, but those are the ONLY people I ever see! I need to join a club or something. Anyone have anything going on that is baby friendly that Lily and I can attend? ....oh yeah, it has to be free, because we're broke.
This picture is of the new way that Lily likes to be held. I think she is a little bored being home all the time too and needs a new perspective of the world.
Also in this picture, you can see that I am tired of wearing pajamas and workout clothes all the time so I have been getting dressed up just to wander around the house. Plus, I still can't fit in any of my pants yet, so dresses will have to do.

Bathtime Fun

Doing this for my Mom....every year

Ya'll know how I am a faniatical ebay auctioner, that is nothing new. But you may or may not know that every year in the month of October I try to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Take a minute or two to read my open letter that I have posted up on ebay.

http://stores.ebay.com/Addicted-to-Rockabilly-and-Punk/Why-We-Donate.html

Also, If you would like to help pitch in, go clean out your closets. Look through your stuff and if you have anything (and I mean ANYTHING) that is in good condition (no rips, tears or stains) give it to me and I'll sell it for you in a charity auction.
Last year I raised $165.00, this year my goal is $200.00
In my ebay store I will be hosting charity auctions for store merchandise, but I will be hosting the donated items using my other ebay user id auctionbum2006.

What Lily can do now

Lily still has not mastered holding up her head yet, but she is still trying everyday. She is so funny because she gets so angry that she can't do it and fusses the whole time her head is up.
She has discovered her hands, and her feet and loves to stare at them for hours. This is how I am able to get my internet work done. The problem being that she can't sit in the boppy anymore because if she catches sight of her feet she leans forward to get closer to them and can't stop herself from falling forward.
She also has discovered that when she kicks her feet and moves her arms up and down in the bouncy seat, it moves. And that the same motions in the bath cause splashes. I have got to get one of these two situations on video because they are so funny. Especially the bath. We both laugh and laugh. Bathtime was always pleasant, but now it is my favorite time of the day. I bathe her in the laundry room (because it is warm) and she will soak down the entire place.
She is starting to have more and more control over her hands and reaches for things. She reaches for the toys on the bouncy seat and yells at them at the same time. I don't really know if she is trying to talk to them or if she doesn't like them. She can reach them and by hitting them makes them swing and make noise.
She can suck on her knuckles and actually prefers her hand over her dummy sometimes.
She can also hold things. She has been holding my hair for awhile, but now she holds rattling toys and her blankets. I make her hold things for me all the time. Right now she really doesn't know the difference between her spit up rag and her toys so what does it matter right?