The big news on the Dukes/Witcher home front is that we're moving in less than 2 weeks time. I know I've said we were moving before, but this time is for real. The new apartment is literally four blocks from the old one (which makes renting a truck seem like a giant, though unfortunately necessary, waste of money) has two bedrooms, a small fenced in yard, and a covered deck. Eli is really excited about finally having that nursery his parents have been promising him, and his Aunt Jenny is excited that we're going to put her shower gift to good use. Me too, Bubba's monkey business bedding is just about the cutest thing ever. It will also be nice to not have Adelaide wake him up every night when Jason comes home from work with the growling and the barking. So, that's exciting and the afore-mentioned Aunt Jenny and I are planning a grown-up scavenger hunt. Which is looking like it's going to be a lot of fun and will have fabulous prizes for the winners i.e. candy, liquor, and trophies. Also it will be kind of a housewarming party for the new place.

This is Eli at 9:30 on Sunday night, showing no inclination what-so-ever to go to bed. Lately he has had the kind of energy that I find unfathomable.

Here he is chewing daddy's wallet, which is probably unsanitary but...

Pizza crust! He was looking at the pizza so longingly that I caved and gave him a piece of crust, he gnawed it til it was pretty soggy and gross and then held it over the side of the high chair for Adelaide to munch on. They've got a good thing going on.

Eli being Eli-exuberant, charming, and adorable.
We breed our football fans. Then we in doctrine them from birth. If we do a good job Eli will be loyal to the black and gold his whole life.

I'm particularly fond of this picture and of the monster shirt that his grandma bought for him. We're sliding into Eli's first Halloween, he will be a monkey (of course). And we'll be taking him here http://www.triplebfarms.com/pumpkin.html to get his pumpkin, it's where my mom always took us. The rule was that we could have any pumpkin we could carry out and back to the car. Holidays with Eli are something I'm really looking forward to.

So many firsts

I took a few days off work to spend some time with the kiddo, he had so many first times during the few days I was off.

The first day that was chilly enough for him to premiere his fall wardrobe on Saturday morning while eating breakfast with mommy and Aunt Suzanne

His first piece of zwieback toast! which he seemed pretty fond of, and then Adelaide got to finish it which made her pretty happy. She's started to just hang out under the high chair. Smart girl.

His first green beans, another big hit, he ate 2 oz. of beans mixed with rice cereal.

His first time riding in the cart! It made shopping a lot more fun for mommy and for Eli, and he helped pick out a green hooded shirt that is mommy's new favorite. He really has excellent taste.

This is actually his second time in a high chair, but I didn't have the camera the first time (bad mommy), he's staring with adoration at his Aunt Adrienne who was being very entertaining

And he's finally sitting up on his own really well. We have to put him into position, and he screams when we do it, why I don't know, but then he sits there like a little man and plays with his toys. Eli's 8 month birthday is right around the corner and I can't believe how fast it's gone, it was just yesterday that he was my little blob. My little blob who slept 17 hours a day. Now we're lucky if we get 8 hours. I guess he's too busy learning new things to sleep.

Complaints

1. Jason woke me up at 1 am TO ASK ME WHERE THE REMOTE WAS. Seriously, that man needs to get his head screwed on or Emily's going to be Pittsburgh's hottest new single mom.

2. My cubemate is driving me insane. Thank God I'm taking 3 extra days off, otherwise I might murder her.

3. I'm still broke, which might be part of the reason I'm so damned irritable today. Here's a list of things I'd love to have a little extra money for :

a. new ballet flats since one of mine mysteriously disappeared
b. a haircut, it's been a year since I had one. A year.
c. eyebrow waxing. no one likes looking like Peter Gallagher (except the man himself)
d. pants in the next size down, my old ones are falling down. (mini YEA!)


There are my complaints, feel free to help me out with suggestions or cash donations.

Catching Up

Eli went to his second Pirates game this weekend with my friend Melissa, her little boy Ryan, and myself. They lost this time, but Eli didn't care.

I've been a terrible blogger lately, but anyone who knows me understands that I go through spurts where getting anything but the bare minimum done is next to impossible. I had my birthday, of course, there's no stopping time. There was sushi, and cake, and cupcakes, and cheesecake (not all at the same time). Eli is getting bigger and doing new things every day. He has learned how to wave and waves at everyone he sees, delighting in all the positive attention he gets from this action. He's also sitting up by himself a lot better, though still no crawling. My mom assures me that this doesn't mean he's developmentally slow. I think I have a competitive streak that motherhood is really bringing out. Not only do I want Eli to do everything right away, I want him to do it before everyone elses babies. My mother also assures me I will not feel this way with the second one. Contemplating a second one makes my head hurt. All people with more than one child are now officially my heroes.

Eli is growing out of his infant seat, which is pretty much ok with me since he's getting to heavy to carry around in it anyway.
Eli still makes fabulous faces, this has not changed since my last post. At seven months he is utterly charming. This is something I'll most likely need to remember when he's 17 and I'm ready to throw him out of the house.

Eli thinks that daddy is his own personal jungle gym. He likes to pull on his chest hair. Better him than me.

How Time Flies

Unbelievably enough I'm going to be 26 next Wednesday, twenty-freaking-six. Wasn't I just 16? My life plan (humor me now, I came up with it when I was 12) said that by 26 I should have

A: Graduated from college
B: Gotten married
C: Published my first book
D: Had my first baby

Well, one out of four's not bad right? And I might as well be married to Jason, we certainly act like husband and wife. Especially when we get to bickering and nagging each other. My life isn't anything like I imagined it would be. Except for the adorable baby part, and even that is different in real life. I mean there's no way of preparing for how hard motherhood is. I also was pretty sure I'd own my own home by the time the first baby rolled around and at this point it's not seeming like that will ever happen. Right now I don't even like the apartment I'm in. Oh, 26, you snuck up on me.

Eli got his 2ND tooth this week, I noticed it peeking through the skin while we were at the ballgame on Monday night. Which explains his atrocious sleeping habits lately, I was beginning to think he was reverting back to infancy. Last night though he fell asleep at 8 pm, woke at 3:30 to nurse, and went back to sleep til 7:30. Viva la sleeping through the night!

This is the face Eli makes when he is talking, he babbles and yells and waves his arms. It's pretty hilarious because he's so emphatic about it.

That thing he's holding is a mesh feeder with a piece of banana inside, he did not like it, did not want it in his mouth.

His finger is in his mouth because he had another tooth coming in! Two teeth!

Here's the family at PNC Park on Monday evening. We went to the doubleheader for my little brother's birthday. Well he's not so little anymore, it was his 22ND birthday. In my head he's still 13 and I'm still surprised to see him driving a car. It was not only Eli's first baseball game it was Jason's too. The thing he was the most impressed in were the grilled foot longs with everything. He ate two of them and fries and shrimp. Piggy.

An Evening with Eli

When I go home in the evening I do not, as many may think, just rest on my laurels and eat bon bons. I am in charge of caring for and shaping the mind of an infant. Hard work. Here are pics of a typical evening.


Eli is trying to learn how to crawl, he can his front end up and he can get his back end up, but not at the same time. It's still pretty cute to watch him worm around and figure out what this whole moving thing is about.

Then we eat bananas off the spoon, usually I hold him on my lap to feed him since I haven't gotten around to buying a high chair, but that's getting so messy that I decided to plunk him in his Einstein. He hijacked the spoon and got a death grip on it.

Then mommy and Eli take a bath. I have to leave the door open because Adelaide gets anxious if she can't see me. With the door open she will walk back to hall and peek her head in several times, just to check that I haven't abandoned her through some sort of trap door or dumb waiter.
After bath Eli gets a fresh diaper and a fabulous faux hawk, you can't see it very well since his hair is pretty reminiscent of duck fuzz, but I assure you it's there. Note the Underpants Gnome diaper, I have a small addiction to buying diapers. Eli has 25 meds at last count.

And finally he sleeps! Of course when he sleeps I have to do the dishes, pick up his toys, wash his diapers, feed myself, run the vacuum, etc... There is no rest for the wicked. (obviously I am the wicked)

Too much cute

This weekend Eli was for the most part in exemplary spirits, and displaying the kind of cuteness that made me want to have a baby in the first place. Then last night at my mom's he seemed to suddenly realize what separation anxiety is because he didn't want anyone but Jason or myself to hold him. Usually Eli shows no preference as long as he's being jostled, tickled, and talked too. So, this new thing is both endearing and annoying. Endearing because he's recognizing that we are, in fact, the most important people in his world. Annoying because I can no longer leave the room without hearing earsplitting cries. Here are some pics of Elijah being extraordinarily cute.


He fell asleep in his Baby Einstein exersaucer while I was at work, luckily Jason had the forethought to take a picture. I guess being a baby genius is pretty tiring.

He found both his feet!! And he was so excited about it. My little monkey.

Eli thinks that daddy's hat is the most delicious thing in the world, except for maybe bananas.

In Emily news I was just monumentally annoyed because I had to walk the whole way upstairs to get water. For anyone who isn't already aware I have a pretty cushy office job where they try to make things as pleasant as possible. This includes monthly themed luncheons (recent examples include a sundae bar and a baked potato bar), team building scavenger hunts, mock awards ceremonies for being a super social worker, and very very flexible schedules. Really if the most I have to complain about is that the downstairs water cooler is broken I must be pretty lucky.

6 months of elation and exhaustion

So, my little guy turned 6 months old yesterday. Half a year has gone by faster than i ever thought possible. I would have updated yesterday but they have me doing new, time consuming things at work as of late. This afternoon I'm pretty tired, Eli was up in the middle of the night again, and since I forgot to set my alarm (also again) I jolted up in a way that always leaves me with a headache. And Adelaide was being mighty picky about where she pooed on her morning jaunt, I would have been late if my co-worker hadn't seen my lame ass walking and picked me up. Then when I sat down at my desk I realized that the khakis I'd put on thinking they were clean had banana mush hand prints on the left thigh. The joys of motherhood. I'm discovering that being a mother tends to leave me woefully unprepared in other areas of my life. Like grooming. And being quick with a comeback. But in other areas I've grown leaps and bounds. Like doing things one handed because putting the baby down isn't an option unless you enjoy hysterical screaming. He was very adorable last night at Macy's, sitting in their extra tall stroller, flirting with all the sales ladies. I bought him a taggie book, and he was sucking on the actual tag instead of the silky decorative ones that line the soft pages. Non conformist.

Auntie Em

My older brother is now a father. That concept is amazing to me, Josh has always been abrasive, annoying, and exasperating. He has mellowed a little in the past few years, I've never seen a man so eager to get married, he cried at the wedding. But to see him holding his little girl, bursting with pride was another thing altogether. I guess we're all growing up.

The New Addition

We got a dog! I've missed having a pet since Belvedere passed, and I just got the idea in my head to go to the Animal Rescue League last night after work. Adelaide (they were calling her Victoria, but that didn't suit her) is an Aussie shepherd/cattle dog mix. She came to the pound as a stray, and no one's quite sure where she was at for the first 4-5 years of her life; but she's very sweet and a little shy, and so far appears to be housebroken. Adelaide won't get up on the furniture, despite me urging her to get on up in the bed, and spent the night quietly sleeping on a blanket on the floor. I haven't even heard her bark yet! She doesn't seem overly interested in the baby, just sniffs at him, and she's terrified of Hazel. Which is probably a good thing, because it is Hazel's house and Hazel's family. Jason keeps telling me what a good job I did picking her out, she's a good sweet girl, and I think she's going to be an excellent addition to our growing family.

Cut Loose

Last night Footloose was on VH1 classic, and I of course decided that we needed to watch it We then had the following conversation

"How many times do we have to watch this?"
"About 50 more times should do it."
"I hate this dumb movie."
"Do you even know what it's about?"
"Yes."
"What?"
"They can't dance because it's against their religion and then a rogue dancer comes to town and shakes things up."

and then he said:

"I'd rather watch a movie with a rogue samurai."

How do I love thee? That is definitely one of the ways.

Light Summer Reading

In times of yore (anytime before 2/2/07) I used to read upwards of two books a week, every week. When the new Harry Potter novel would come out I would call off work (because I'm responsible like that) and settle in with various snacks to read until it was finished. I got "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" on Saturday, early Saturday, and I'm still not done. I tried to stay up til midnight last night to finish it. Book still unfinished, alarm not set, me begging my mom for a ride to work so I'm not horrendously late. I was horrendously late one day last week and I try not to do that too many times in one month, having a baby doesn't automatically excuse tardiness, though really it should. If I finish it tonight I'm going to finish reading "The Liars Club", and then start in on my Summer of Faulkner 3-book set. Those books are smaller paperbacks which I might be able to read one handed while nursing. I love my son so much more than I thought possible, but I do miss my free time. I miss reading for hours on end, not stopping except to pee or get snacks, or maybe watch a soap opera. Of course someday he won't need my constant attention, that's what I tell myself when I get frustrated, but I do get frustrated.

Sharp Tooth

Eli was being extra cranky yesterday, so I stuck my finger in his mouth to see if he was hungry (if he's hungry he sucks vigorously) and felt something sharp on his bottom gum! He has a real live tooth coming in, and it's a lot sharper than I thought it would be. No wonder the little man's been so angry. My baby is getting to be so very very grownup.

Taking names and breaking hearts

Eli said his first word last night, ma-ma! It's amazing to me that I'm someones first word, the person that is foremost in his life. A lot of my time is spent trying to do the best that I can for him; trying to decide the best way to raise him. One of the big things for me is raising him to be healthy and environmentally conscious. So far we've implemented cloth diapers, and the breastfeeding of course, I've been slowly switching over to all natural bath stuff. Last night I made his first batch of baby food (organic carrots) to freeze for later, and tonight I'm going to do sweet potatoes. I like feeling domestic, like a 50's housewife, and I'm getting a lot better at cooking. I made split pea soup from scratch while I was cooking Eli's carrots last night and it was amazing! Last time I let it get too thick (Jason called it mashed potato soup), but this time it was just right. I've also been researching pre school homeschooling curriculum's. I don't think I'll be homeschooling him for K-12, but I'd like to give him a good head start before sending him off to school. Eli literally takes up 90% of my time, whether I'm with him or not I'm always thinking of him. The other ten percent is focused on TV, books, and movies. On the World Series of Pop Culture finals last night there was an entire category dedicated to Dirty Dancing. I aced it of course, it's kind of what I've been preparing for my entire life. I've seen it close to 400 times I think. Next year I'm going to be in the World Series of Pop Culture, you just wait and see, and I'm going to win. And then I'm going to use the money to take a year off with Eli.

Nap Time is a Good Time

I just had a massive Qdoba burrito in a bowl for lunch and now I really feel like a nap is in order. Downstairs is a lovely plush couch that would be perfect for just such an activity, but I fear that a swift firing would be the next activity, sigh. I can remember hating naps when I was little, my mom would put us all in bed with her (5 yr. old Josh, 4 yr. old me and little baby Marty) and as soon as everyone else dozed off I was sneaking outside to play with my friends. The good old days when I had copius amounts of energy.

In other, non-nap related news, Eli is chubbing out again. He had a length growth spurt and was starting to look just a little skinny, and starting to make me think that maybe mommy's milk wasn't quite rich enough. In just the past couple days though his thighs have started to plump up, and all his adorable (and hard to clean between) rolls are taking shape again. I know I'm thoroughly prejudiced but he just keeps getting cuter and cuter. He's especially charming out on the town where he smiles and coos at anyone who takes the time to look in his direction. He's a favorite of the old Italian ladies roaming my neighborhood, they always bless him which I find charming. We can all use all the blessing we can get. I kind of wish someone would bless me.

AAARRGH

http://www.talklikeapirateday.com/translate/index.php

How awesome is the pirate translater? Like totally awesome. Ever wonder how a pirate would say totally awesome? Well, now you can find out, can't you?

um, ew

"According to that report, Western Pennsylvania's climate will resemble the current climate in Alabama if emissions continue to grow, with 20 to 25 days each summer with above-100-degree temperatures and 60 days a year with temperatures above 90."-Pittsburgh Post Gazette

I did think it was hotter than it used to be here this summer. I was just accrediting my new found sweatiness to my pregnancy weight gain, good to know it's more likely caused by my previously lax stance on recycling. Seriously though I'm trying to be more environmentally sound for just this reason, I don't want Eli to think snow is just some story I made up. Plus I hate sweating, especially when it's right above my upper lip and it just keeps coming back no matter how many times i wipe it. OK, that was probably TMI, but you have to be graphic when you're trying to stir people to change.

I can do it legal now

"Local governments may not prohibit public breast-feeding, whether or not the mother's breast is concealed, and the act cannot be considered indecent exposure, obscene or sexual conduct, or a nuisance."-The Pittsburgh Channel

Pittsburgh has finally come around! I can breastfeed everywhere now without fear of harrassment. Party time, Excellent! Eli's going to be so excited, he does love his boobies.

Since the last time I wrote Eli has had his 5 month birthday and his first 4Th O' July. He now weighs in at a whopping 14 lbs 6 oz, rolls all over the place, giggles up a storm, and enjoys using his rain forest jumparoo (see picture below)

He has also been sleeping much better which is a blessing for me, I was starting to feel a little zombified at work and at home. Sometimes he will loosen his hold on Dangles the monkey and start crying, but as soon as he has a grip on him he usually drifts back to sleep. My little man is starting to seem very grown up.

In non-baby news Jason had his first trip to Kennywood! When asked to rate it on a 1-10 scale he gave it an 11, which seems about right to me since I consider it to be up there with Disneyland in the race for happiest place on earth. The best part was the Jackrabbit, I was tightening and tightening the seat belt and Jason gave me a look and said, "Why are you freaking out, we're not going anywhere?" Then when we hit that double dip and he felt that amazing derail/pop out of the cart sensation, the look on his face was priceless. Aah the joys of a Kennywood virgin.

We also found also found a new place to live this weekend, finally. I hate the apartment we're in now (I think Eli does too), it's too small, has no yard, the neighbors are loud and nasty, my mail gets stolen, my stove doesn't cook right, I could just go on and on. The new place is a five minute walk from work (my feet are ecstatic about that), has a big front porch, small backyard, air conditioning, a great kitchen, big bathroom, full basement with washer and dryer, and it's cute!! We fell in love pretty much the second we walked in, and we can't wait to get moved in at the beginning of the month. Our places are getting progressively nicer and I have high hopes that in 2-3 years we'll be in a place of our own. I also have high hopes that we'll be able to talk the new landlord into letting us get a dog, I miss Mr. B like crazy, and Eli loves dogs. He loves the cat too, but she's not so fond of him.

Reasons not to Drink

This is Eli in his new summer outfit w/ matching hat. The kid has the longest legs! I can't believe he's already 4 1/2 months. I had to adjust the straps on his car seat again yesterday. He is the number one reason I shouldn't drink. The others are listed below.

2. I only like fatty alcohol that will not help w/ losing the pregnancy weight at all.

3. I get silly and say/do stupid things.

4. Jason will certainly not be getting up with Eli in the morning and I will be exhausted and vaguely hungover while trying to care for my infant and unsure if my breast milk is going to make him drunk if I don't pump and dump.



Sunday morning (Father's Day) was so hellish! And Sunday evening we got the worst service ever from the Wendy's on Centre Ave. By the time we got home I was having a crankathon and snapping at Jason over every little thing. I tried to be super nice yesterday to make up for it, even though I'm pretty sure he'd forgotten. He gets over things pretty quick. Unlike me, I'll hold a grudge for-ever.

On a happy note Eli has been sleeping a lot better since I stopped swaddling him and moved him from the bassinet to the bottom part of the pack'n'play. Apparently he likes a hard surface and the freedom to roll.

Take your passion and make it happen

What's cuter than a baby in legwarmers? Nothing. Thanks to Heather (the maker of Eli's superbaby ensemble) I am now obsessed with babylegs. I got two pairs yesterday and Eli and I had a lovely fashion show:

Also Jen came over for our walk, and we opened up my mom's closed restaurant to fetch some soda's since the beverage selection at my apt. was sorely lacking. I was just waiting for someone to poke thier head in and ask for a sandwich. Then I watched the last 45 mins. of the Big Love season premiere after putting Eli to bed. The first 15 mins. were silent, which I'm blaming the Soprano's bulls#@$ I think my cables broken ending. It was kinda hard to enjoy the show with Eli upstairs and me downstairs, because I'm always sure he's going to stop breathing while I'm in the other room. He'll suffocate and I'll never live down the guilt of him dying while i watch some stupid t.v. show that I don't get on the upstairs set. Of course he was fine, sleeping like an angel when I went up to bed myself. Mommy is just paranoid.

Resolution #1

I think I'm going to start trying to look just a little hotter and more alluring while out walking around the city. The purpose of this being that I would really like someone to post a missed connection about me on craigslist. I'm not saying that I would do anything about it...but you know it'd be nice to be noticed. Besides I did pay good money for the makeup collecting dust in my bathroom...

Last night at around 3:30 am Eli woke up to eat. So I changed his diaper, and let him nurse until he unlatched. He was all kinds of sleepy as I laid him back down, but the second I tried to step away it was all wide-awake baby. I indulged him by walking him and playing with him for a little while, until about 4:30, an hour and a half before my alarm would be going off. Then I put on my best stern face, and I looked down at him and said "time to go back to bed Bubba, it's nighttime, nighttime is for sleeping. Time to go back to sleep now." And he full-on belly laughed at me. Adorable little smart-ass.

SuperBaby

Here is a picture of Eli in his fabulous new diaper.

It was a present from a friend of a friend and a lovely surprise. He's also sporting some baby legs she made him which are, as the picture implies, just like leg warmers only for babies. What you can't see in this picture is that Eli is crying, mommy has a bad habit of trying to finish taking the picture or just thinking that the crying is cute too and should be recorded on camera. I keep having visions of him looking at pics when he is older and demanding to know why I didn't pick him up and comfort him. I imagine that he will then take these pics to his therapist who will declare them to be the root of everything that is wrong with him.




And this is Eli this morning before I went to work, I think he kinda looks like a little pimp. I like that.

Last night the little man and I took the stroller to Sure-Save to pick up mommies dinner (potato, broccoli, and cheddar pierogies), had playtime on the floor, and took a bubble bath. Eli is getting much better about playing by himself while I eat, thank God. He likes to take his toys and figure out which end fits in his mouth better, and roll/inch worm his way off the blanket onto the nubby carpet that i know is going to give him some sort of nasty rash. We both enjoy bath time. Last night we sang along to Jeff Buckley and he peed in his towel as soon as I put him on it. Good times.

One Year Ago...

As I was filling out the paperwork for my Aflac supplemental insurance I realized that today marks a very fun personal anniversary for me. One year ago today I found out I was pregnant. J and I hadn't been trying for very long (only a month), but I was sick to my stomach, tired, cranky, my boobs were swollen, and my period was about 5 days late. At the drugstore I was so nervous, not wanting to get my hopes up, feeling furtive with my purchase. J had gone golfing and I peed on the stick all by myself. The digital readout said pregnant almost immeadiately and I just started laughing and crying. It was all my dreams come true. And now Eli is all my dreams come true. 9 months of planning and 4 months of catering to my little tyrants every need and I am head over heels


When I look at his feet sometimes I am amazed that I made those feet!

And to think that his face is a perfect mix of J and myself blows me away. In my heart I have been a mommy for 1 whole year. Happy anniversary to me.

4 months!

Eli turned 4 months old on Saturday. I can hardly believe it's been 4 months, but at the same time I can hardly remember what life was like without him. Sleeping late, spending $300.00 in one trip to Victoria's secret, and fitting into my size 8 jeans are all distant memories. But when he sees me enter a room and his whole face lights up, or when he's sleepy and snuggling into my shoulder it's all worth it. He had his 4 month check up yesterday and weighed in at 13 lbs. even, which means he hasn't doubled his birth weight of 7lbs 9 oz. That was worrying me a little, but as several people pointed out to me all babies are different, and there is a childhood obesity epidemic in this country that I'd be happy for him to avoid. The doctor wants me to start him on cereal mixed with breast milk twice a day, but I just don't think that's necessary yet, he's still so little. So, I just kind of nodded my head but didn't agree to anything, and hopefully J doesn't just do it while I'm not there. He thinks that anything the doctor says is gospel. Today is rainy and nasty and I'm looking forward to going home and being lazy with the little one. Hopefully he'll sleep tonight. My little sleep terrorist. I got 4 1/2 hours last night, but I'm blaming the restlessness on his immunizations, five vaccines is a lot! If he doesn't start sleeping better soon I'm going to read aloud to him from baby books
"4 month old babies need 15 hrs. of sleep a day.", "At 4 months babies often begin sleeping through the night."
Maybe he just doesn't realize what's expected of him, I'm sure he wants to keep up with his peers and hit his milestones. Speaking of milestones he's been rolling like a champ, he even did it for the nurse at his check up yesterday. Mommy is very proud, I'm sure this is more evidence that he's a genius. And last night when we were walking in the park he made friends with a very cute 6 month old baby girl. He's such a flirt already. It's amazing how they start off as these blank canvases and everyday they become more and more themselves.

Poor Mr. B.

My puppy, Mr. Belvedere, who is two years old, was diagnosed with stage five lymphatic cancer in November. The doctors gave him two months to live and he's been doing really well, and I was starting to think that maybe he beat the odds. Unfortunately the past couple of days he's been really sick, and yeterday he refused to eat; even when offered hotdogs off the grill. So, I'm taking him into the vet tonight and we'll probably end up having him put down. I'm so sad. He was my first baby boy and I love him. He always sleeps not just in my bed, but under the covers. And when he sits he always has to be on someones lap, or on your feet. He loves to be cuddled. I don't know if I'll ever love another dog as much. I hope they have big fluffy beds, large grassy fields, and lots of squeaky toys in doggy heaven.

So, this weekend my in-laws came to visit. And you know how people make mother in-law jokes and its pretty cliche, I now know why its the cliche. Actually for me though it was more my father in-law who knows everything about everything and has no problem telling you what to do. Here's a short list.

1. Things I do wrong with my child:

a. I don't medicate him to make him stop crying.

b. I don't do a good enough job cutting his nails

c. I hold him too much, if I keep holding him as much as I do now he will never be independent. He'll be wanting me to carry him piggyback at his College graduation.

d. I put him in the cart in his car seat at the grocery store, this is patently unsafe, and I obviously have a death wish for him.

e. I let him cry at wal-mart and didn't get him out of his seat because we were in the checkout line. Then, when I turned my back for 30 secs, he got Eli out. When i went to put my son back in I was informed he would cry, I said "I know, because you got him out of his seat." and the FIL said "wait til we get to the car to put him back in." fed up I replied "I'm putting him in now."

his response was "Make your baby cry, go ahead make him cry" so, I very maturely replied, "I made him, I pushed him out, I'll do whatever I want with him!" and then I glared and stomped off. I know I should have maintained my cool, but it was 3 days in and my nerves were frayed.

2. Things that are wrong with my apartment:

a. We don't have rubber stripping around our front door and you can smell the food that the neighbor cooks.

b. Our mini-blinds let in to much heat, FIL solved this by nailing blankets over the windows.

c. The furniture in the living room was not set up to his liking, so, when I went upstairs to put the baby to bed he rearranged it. And then told me how much better it looked.

3. General wrongness in the city and my life:

a. Jason and I must immediately buy a house and acquire a 30 year loan, it's silly to rent and we musn't be afraid of debt.

b. Every light in Pittsburgh should be right turn on red, the fact that they aren't is just stupidity on the city planners part.

c. He could never live in Pittsburgh because he "needs to live near water, you know I need an ocean, or a RIVER or something." Um, hello, we have 3 rivers. 3, we are currently driving across one!

And then there is the fact that they insist on speaking Spanish 75% of the time despite my constant reminders that I do not, in fact, speak Spanish.

So there's my rant. I'm sure I'll feel much better after a good night's sleep. Eli is teething and not sleeping well, and spending a lot of time yelling when he is awake. Poor baby, I know it hurts him. It's just frustrating for everyone.

The man is my FIL, the woman with J is his mom. And the adorable baby in the pirates outfit is obviously Eli, almost 4 months old already!

So, I was reading some other people's blogs, and I decided it would be nice to have one that was baby-oriented. I clicked on the create blog link and put in my info and it took me here. After I got done laughing at myself I decided to go ahead with the blog thing.

A few things have changed since that last post, I decided that Mr. Miami was a viable option, moved in with him, got pregnant by him and high tailed it back to Pittsburgh. Reading that last post it doesn't even feel like i know that girl, two years can make quite a difference in a girls life. Less than a year after that I was struck by baby fever. All i could think about was pro-creating. Here are the results of all that wishing and hoping and planning and dreaming:

Elijah Daniel now almost 4 months old and the center of my universe. Even if he is a bit of a sleep terrorist lately.