New Pics Etc.

Aunt Candice came to see me and she bought me presents!

I know I've said it before but we are so in love. My favorite thing in this picture is the smile on Cory's face. :)

We discovered she loves playing with blocks. I especially love these blocks because they belonged to my nephews. :)

ROFL...

Got this message in my work inbox today after attempting to reply to Jeannine's email...

eTrust SCM for SMTP Outbound Email Quarantine Notice
Your email, To: jeannine.rochon-burkart@tvguide.com, Sent: Fri, Sep 26 2008 10:53:58 -0500
exceeded maximum profanity score for: List Profanity [10]: bugger [4] , shit [3] , crap [2] , boob [1]
SMC EMail Admin

I must have laughed for 20 minutes. The absurdity!

Kaia

I promise to return the blog to its intended topic after this weekend... I'm hoping to get some good pictures to post and write a good entry about how she's doing and what she's been up to lately.

I went to a consignment sale today at the fairgrounds. Bought stuff that I don't really have the money for but what the hell. Baby needs warm clothes! :)

The week has been incredibly exhausting and stressful, I'm looking forward to the weekend. Of course we have lots going on but nothing stress-inducing like work.

I taught cycling Wednesday night. It actually felt good to teach again but I miss my old gang. There was only three people in there, counting Cory, and though they were my old regulars, so many familiar faces are missing. It's just not as fun as it was when the class was full of friends. but anyway, it did feel good to be working that hard. The new instructor is good, Cory & I might start making it at least once a week on a regular basis. It'd be good for us.

That's all for now, I've got to get to bed. Just wanted to let you know there will be cuteness coming... :)

Thanks Sis (and David)

...in case you don't understand how things work...I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."
* Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, a quintessential American story.

* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.

* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human
Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress and many others, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
* If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.

* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.
* If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, much clearer now.

The Hatred is A-Brewin'

Seriously folks. She sucks. And because she sucks, McCain's people suck because they started all this crap by picking her. UGH! Canada, here I come!

March for Babies

Thanks to everyone who donated on Kaia's behalf. I am hoping to participate in this every year, so just plan a donation into your annual budgets cuz I'll be coming for you. :)

The impending rain moved the walk indoors, even though it still hasn't so much as sprinkled. Better safe than sorry I suppose. Anyway, we were in the student union and walked a few silly laps and then ate a hot dog. Kaia and other preemies started off the walk by participating in a "Preemie Parade" where they received a March of Dimes medal. It was presented by the OSU pom squad, she was pretty interested in their sparkly uniforms but didn't smile much. She just wanted to touch everything. ;) Here are some photos from tonight's adventure. Enjoy!

bahbahbababa

Kaia has discovered her "b" and "d" consonants. In fact, just two days ago. We are pretty sure she said "da da" this morning. Of course Cory wasn't even in the room with her but she said it!! Now we just need to put sounds with people so she can understand what she's saying... :)

Anyway, it was so cute this morning. She sometimes sits on our bed while we get dressed, surrounded by pillows "just in case" and she just sat there all giddy, babbling away. I think she gets as excited as we do when she makes a new sound.

I am trying really hard to get to the point where she is in her own space to sleep but I am going to miss her so much. I think we are going to put the pack & play back in our bedroom and go from our bed to there to her crib. And yes, all these baby steps are for us, not her. I don't think she cares where she sleeps once she's out.

Anyway, I was reading Isaac's Mom's blog earlier and I realized I hadn't been posting much about her lately either. Pictures now and then and illness updates but not all the wonderful things she is doing now so here's a list:

• She is attempting solids but she really, really wants to do it herself. It's messy but it's fun. So far, like her mama, sweet potatoes are her favorite.
  
  
• She can now hold a bottle and feed herself, but it's hard if it's an 8-ouncer. It's hilarious to watch her get all excited to shove that nipple in her mouth. It usually hits her in the nose first.
• 
  
• She sits up by herself, which you saw in the recent picture. She's a little wobbly so I still stay close in case she flops over. She did just that at my office yesterday and bonked her head. She'll start to cry and if it's not a big deal, I'll tell her she's ok and kiss her and she stops immediately. THIS is a great thing. My mom was able to shut us up with a look. I hope I have that gift. It will come in handy later on.
  
  
• One of the best things is that she reaches for me when I go to pick her up. :)
  
  
• She has decided that bath time is not so bad afterall. Now that she can sit up, she has fun kicking her feet wildly, and I mean wildly, and splashing. Mostly kicking. And staring into the water at her feet kicking. She also likes to hold onto her toes now. I keep waiting to see her foot go into her mouth, but not yet.

Still no teefies, which means we get to enjoy that wonderful toothless grin for just a little bit longer.

I'm an addict

Come to mama

sigh

All the good karma I put out into the world and this is how I'm repaid. My iPod was stolen AGAIN, along with this, which I used to teach my class in the schools. This is like my 4th iPod, for those of you who are counting. My last one was stolen, too, so my boss bought me a new one. Don't think she's going to make that offer again. Esp. since this time it seems to have been lifted while my car was in my damn driveway. Or Paula's driveway. Either way, stupid me never locks the doors. I honestly don't normally leave my iPod in the car, so I'm a little surprised that I did but unless it turns up somewhere in this pig sty house, it's a goner. I taught cycling Friday night and that's the last time I've seen it. :(

Fuckers.

more cuteness for this dreary monday

Yup

Please

Please, please, please let us win this election... from a blurb on cnn about Palin...

Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor.

Banning books? Are you serious? I'm going to bed.

ugh

It seems like Kaia is always sick. It's never anything big, thank goodness, but the little fevers and all seem neverending. Last week, she had a fever for almost a week (roseola). This weekend, it was vomit and diarrhea and very little appetite. I'm going to call the doctor tomorrow (we called the on-call the morning she puked to see if we needed to take her in) and see what we should do. She has very little interest in eating right now and I'm pretty sure she has lost some of the weight we were so happy to see that she had gained. Stressful business, this being a parent. Anyway, she only puked once and there's only been one more diarrhea episode so I think she's fine, but the not eating stuff... oy. I hope that is related to maybe her teething or something.

One good thing about her not feeling well, it got us out of a visit with great grandmother. For those of you who don't know her, I know how harsh it sounds when I bitch about her but she is the most manipulative, conniving hag I have ever met. She is the female match to my dad, I swear it. She had the nerve to tell Cory that she knew we wanted to hold Kaia when she didn't feel well, but that we were making her not like other people. The next time I see her, I'm going to make sure she knows how Kaia reaches out for Aunt Paula, and how Grandma Jane made her laugh and how much she adores Grandma Cheney. Even Grandpa Ward makes her smile. Nevermind the fact that she smiles at Miss Vicky when we take her to daycare. Right. She just doesn't like YOU, old hag. Babies aren't stupid. She senses that she's a nutbag.

Grr. Like I said, I know it's harsh but fuck all, it's my blog and I needed to vent!