Sleepy Baby

Mara's favorite toy right now is her singing "Leap Frog." He sings the alphabet song and Mara has even started to babble along with him as he sings. Mara was playing with him (and the rattle that is also in the bouncy seat) while I was putting my make-up on in the bathroom. It got quiet, so I looked over and saw this. One of her new tricks lately is to throw things for mommy and daddy to pick up, fun game huh? It looks like she fell asleep mid throw. She held him like this for a few minutes before finally dropping him and settling in for her nap.

Army Cadet Ready for Duty

Our little cadet has learned to do the "Army Crawl" and she's getting quite quick about it. She started doing the crawl on Sunday and then was really movin' by Tuesday night when we took this video on our digital camera (excuse the poor quality of the video, our digital camera is ancient in technological terms.)

If you're wondering what the deal is with the "Pippi Longstocking" leggings that Mara's wearing, they are called Baby Legs and they are the hottest new trend for Hollywood babies (and for our little cadet.) Basically, they are leg warmers...are you having flashbacks to 1985? I think they will be great as Mara is learning to crawl so that her knees don't get all banged up, not to mention that they are totally adorable!

To view the video, click on the "play button" (aka arrow) on the image below. You'll notice that the cat is not so thrilled about Mara's new mobility.

(By the way, in the beginning of the video you'll see Aaron pat Mara's back. He's not spanking her...she got frustrated because the cat ran away so he gave her a little pat. I thought I should clarify that :) )

Sit back and enjoy the movie!



Watch out world, here she comes!!!

Outdoor Photo Shoot

I took Mara outside this weekend to do a little photo shoot of her. Mara was blinded by the sun so she didn't want to look at the camera. I can't blame her. It was bright out there!

What the heck?!

Well, I have somehow managed to misplace my only 2 pairs of black earrings. To most people, this would be no big deal, but if you know me, you know that I love my accessories and I wear black all the time! So, I'm wearing stupid, un-cute silver earrings with my black shirt today. Ugh, I'm so mad at myself. Where could those earrings be?!

Our New Purchase

We purchased one of these over the weekend:








It's a Suzuki Grand Vitara. It's a 2006, but it only had 20,000 miles on it and we got a GREAT deal on it. It looks brand new. The only problem is that the seats aren't very comfortable on my high maintenance back, so I'm looking for some kind of lumbar support to help with that problem. I like the new vehicle, but I have always LOVED our Isuzu Trooper so I'm going to have a really hard time parting with it. The Trooper only gets about 14 mpg's though which doesn't make much sense with my commute. It's also an older vehicle with 112,000 miles on it and newer is better, right? The Trooper has a luxury trim level so I'm used to leather/power/heated seats (that are super comfortable) and the Grand Vitara doesn't have that luxury. It has power for everything else though, windows, locks, etc. I'll also miss all the cargo space we have in the Trooper, but I'll get over it. I hope.

Some day when we're rich (haha) and gas prices have gone way down (haha) I'll buy another tricked-out, gas-guzzler SUV that's comfortable.

I can dream, can't I?

6 Month Check-Up

Mara had her 6 month check-up yesterday. She was supposed to get shots, but she has a cold so I asked the Dr. not to do them. The Dr. was fine with it and said that we could come back any time during "nurse hours" or just wait until her 9 month appointment to get her next round of shots.

Mara is 18.5 lbs. now and 27 inches long. She's up a full pound since her appt. a few weeks ago! She is in the 90th percentile for height and weight. She doesn't seem all that big to me though and she seems to have started thinning out some because she's getting longer, so I was surprised that she was so high on the chart. Of course, the babies in our family are always nice and filled out (lol) anyway so she just looks like what I'm used to seeing. In fact, my mom got out my baby calendar last night and said that I was 20 lbs. at 6 months, so Mara is smaller than I was!

Nothing else too exciting happened. The Dr. gave Mara a free book because her office got some kind of grant to give out books and Mara loved the book and started eating it right away. EVERYTHING goes to her mouth these days. The most fun thing in the Dr.'s office though was the paper that they lay down on the table to keep the table clean. Mara got a hold of it and started flailing it all about and laughing at herself. The Dr. and I both got a kick out of it too. She's so entertaining.

Happy Birthday Emily!!!

Today is my little cousin Emily's birthday! Hope you have a fun day Em! Love you!

This isn't a very recent picture, but it's one of my favs...

OMG U R VFF

For all of you that don't speak "texting," the title of this post is, "Oh my gosh ("God" if you want to go that route), you are very freaking funny."

To be honest, I just learned "VFF." Anyway, my mom just sent me an email that started with "OMG," and it cracked me up so I had to share. My mom is so VFF. LOL.

TLK2UL8R

Little Miss Personality

Mara loves to watch our cat and she even has a certain "voice" that she uses when she's talking to the cat. The "voice" is a combination of an excited yell and frustration because the cat does not want to get as close to Mara as Mara would like her too. Mara was in the exersaucer yesterday watching Tag and then Tag walked away. As soon as Tag got out of Mara's sight, Mara threw her arms up in the air and did a loud grunt-yell and acted quite irritated that her entertainment had walked away. Mara has a walker at the babysitter's house, but not at our house and as Tag walked away, Mara also started moving her feet in the excersaucer like she would to get her walker moving... to chase the cat. That little girl of mine is quite a character and she's developing quite a personality (and a little bit of an attitude) already! Sometimes I think she's starting into the "terrible twos" a year and a half early!

This picture is from a couple months ago, but it's my favorite one of Mara in her excersaucer.

Maybe I'm not done with my blog re-do yet

I'm so bummed. I got home last night and pulled up my blog for Aaron to see, and the colors on my home computer look TOTALLY different than on my work computer. I designed the header and the site all on my work computer during my lunch hours this week and when I looked at it on my home computer the colors are much darker and I don't like it at all!!! On my work computer, all the colors are very light...the background is just a hint of a creamy color and the pink in the header is more of a very light mauve. At home, the background looks dark peach and the header is SO dark! Not at all the look I thought I was getting when I created it. I tried playing with the color and contrast on my work computer, but it didn't really change the look of the page like my home PC did. I don't know if my work computer or my home computer are the more "true" look so I don't know how to fix it. Frustrating...

Done!

My blog is officially revamped! New web address, new blog title and new look. I even designed and created the header myself. It might not be anything amazing compared to other websites, but I'm happy with how it all came together. I think the look reflects me and that's the point of a blog isn't it? Now, off to send a mass email so that people know where to come to read my "chronicles."

Happy Birthday Dad!

My Dad turned 60 yesterday! I'm a day late in posting it, but my big blog resurrection just started today:) He'll probably be thrilled that I'm sharing his age with the world, but I think it's worthy of celebration!!! Love you Dad!

Motherhood

I realized that I haven’t been able to write in my journal to Mara since she was born (I kept a journal during my pregnancy) and found myself pondering what it means to be a mom. You hear catchy little stories about “Being a mom means changing 5 diapers a day” or “Being a mom means being spit up on when you’re heading out the door to work,” but what does it really mean to be a mom? To me, it means having a higher purpose than work or material possessions. It is making the unconscious decision to spend time with your child over doing anything else. It is the realization that I might not enjoy every stage of my child’s growth and development, but I would not change any of them for the world. It is the fact that I never knew this particular kind of love existed until my little girl entered my life. It is knowing that I have the potential of having my daughter as my best friend in her adult years, just like the relationship that my mom and I have. It is understanding the love that my mom has for me since I now know what that love feels like.

On the not-so-pleasant side of motherhood…it is knowing that my body will never be the same after having a child. I do not lose weight like I used to and therefore am carrying remnants of my daughter’s development with me at all times. However, motherhood is also finding out that I don’t care about my body shape quite as much as I used to because I would rather spend time with my daughter than working out at the gym. Just as my life now has a higher purpose, so does my body. Motherhood is also anxiety. Being anxious about new skills my daughter learns, being anxious about something bad happening to her, being anxious about finances, being anxious that I’m going to do something wrong, being anxious that if I do mess something up my daughter will be impacted forever. That list could go on and on.

But…

“Motherhood” is still the greatest gift that I have ever been given and I cherish the title of “Mother” every day.

Back to the Blog I Go

I know, it’s been much too long since my last blog entry…last year! I remember distinctly that I stopped blogging right around the time that I got pregnant because I was afraid that I would let something slip about the pregnancy before I made the news “official” at work.. So, as a way of keeping my secret until I was 12 weeks along (the safe zone in pregnancy), I stopped blogging. Of course, I didn’t go back and pick it up because pregnancy left me feeling crummy and exhausted 99% of the time and the last thing I wanted to do at the end of the day was go home and sit in front of the computer, trying to be creative with words. Not to mention that most of my posts would have probably read something like this, “Still feeling nauseated ALL of the time. Getting enormous. Is it time to have this baby yet?” which would have gotten old very quickly. It also seriously lacks creativity. Of course, not all of my writing is “creative” per say, rather much of my rambling is just about daily events, but that still took more effort that I had to give. It may still take more effort than I have to give now (with a 6 month old) but I miss this and am going to try to recommit to it. Good or not, creative or not, exciting or not, I’ve always enjoyed writing and journaling.

While I took a step away from my blog last year, I was still journaling to Mara the whole time. When I think about it I guess I sacrificed my old “blogging” time for a new kind of writing. My mom wrote a journal when she was pregnant with me and I wanted to do the same thing for my child. I already enjoy flipping back through the journal and recalling the “adventure” that was my pregnancy, especially the part where we thought we were having a boy and called the baby “Dean” for a month before finding out that we in fact had a “Mara” instead. I know Mara will get a kick out of that some day. Since having Mara I have not written in her journal…not even once, so I need to recommit to that too. Since Mara is 6 months old now and has a pretty established routine, I feel like I may be able to get back to some of my “creative” pursuits. We’ll see…

Toys R Us Is Supposed to be Fun, Right?

I know it's taboo to talk about work on a blog, but since I blurted this at work to one of the "big dogs" I felt like I could share it here. One of the big accounts I work on is the Toys R Us account and most everything with that account seems to a pain in my booty. The account could be really fun (and it does have it's fun moments) because we get to be creative with it, but mainly I associate the account with stress. One of the "big dogs" walked by a couple weeks ago and said, "How's it going Cassandra?" I replied, "Well, I'm working on Toys R Us and for a place that's supposed to be associated with fun, I'm definitely not in my happy place!" Then someone in the "peanut gallery" (the large work-room that I'm in) said something like, "But Geoffrey loves you!" and I replied, "If Geoffrey were here right now I'd drop-kick him!" We all laughed and "the big dog" continued on to his office. Geoffrey reared his ugly head again today so I was not in my happy place today. Geoffrey better stay clear of me for the next few days!

Graduation Day is Approaching!

Aaron will be graduating with his undergrad degree this Sunday! I'm excited for this graduation, but I'm even more excited for what this graduation stands for...yet another stepping stone to ACTUALLY being done with school. :) Only 3 more years and counting...




Slow and steady wins the race, right?

Lunch Time Retreat

I've been going to my cousin Angela's house to veg a few times a week during my lunch hour and let me tell you, it's WONDERFUL!!! She has a deep freeze in her garage so I just fill it up with frozen dinners and pop one in the microwave while watching "What Not to Wear." I'm delighted by my new lunchtime routine. I realized today though that I cry every day on my lunch hour. For some reason "the big reveal" at the end of "What Not to Wear" always gets me. Today's episode was one that I had already seen, but it was just such an amazing transformation that I cried again (possibly even harder than my first viewing of it.)

Office Supplies

I HATE yellow Post-it notes and black pens. As a rule, a love post-it notes. Sarah even bought me a book called "101 Ways to use Post-it Notes" for my birthday last year because I can't live without my Post-its. However, I can't stand the yellow ones. The only color that Main Gate stocks is yellow so I bought some better colors for use in my Post-it note pop-up dispenser at work. You may be wondering, "What's her deal with yellow Post-its," and honestly I don't know that I can explain it. I think it has something to do with the lame pastel color. Also, yellow Post-its don't really jump out at me when they are stuck on white paper. I need something that will stand out and remind me of important things like, "I changed the purchase order number on this on 3-16," or "Has this order shipped?" This brings me to my next point.

Black pens. I HATE black pens for the very same reason. If you print something on a black and white printer, then want to add notes to it in pen before filing it, the black pen just doesn't stand out. I need blue pens so that messages to myself pop out at me when I look at the paper. I'm also super-picky about the blue pens that I use. My favorite pen is the X500 blue ball point from Rose Art. They are chubby pens and have a soft writing grip. I have only been able to find these at Target, but I just went to Target to restock and they didn't have them!!! In fact, they hardly had any blue pens at all. Now I'm going to have to track down "my" blue pen and order some online. Why is it so hard to find a good blue pen? I'm sure it can't be that I'm just too picky.

Sarah got the job!!!

My best friend, Sarah, got a job at Main Gate!!! I can hardly wait until she starts on the 26th. Let the snack bartering begin!!!

I've been MIA

The new job is keeping me so busy that I haven't had the time or energy to make myself sit down at the computer after a long day at work and write on my blog. The last thing I want to do after sitting in front of a computer at work all day is sit in front of a computer at home all night. However, I keep thinking of things that I want to blog about, so I'm back...at least for a couple entries:)