The one where I try to make up for my terrible vacation pictures...

Just to prove to everyone that I can take pictures (sometimes, when I try really, really hard, that is), Brigid and I had a little fashion show last week.  See, Brigid has this green dress that I bought for her months ago with the innocence of a new parent who thinks she's going to put her infant in pretty dresses and frilly underoos every day once the weather warms up.  In reality, I am now the jaded mother of a mobile ten-month old who is lucky if I get her out of her sleeper at any point during the day, much less put her in any sort of clean or cute outfit.

So, this dress, it's been worn once.  Granted, the one time wearing occurred when we took her to get her pictures taken a couple of months ago, so I do have proof that the dress has been used, but still.  I needed to put her in it again, if only to justify my idiocy of buying it in the first place.  Dresses, especially longer dresses, are probably great for little girls who can walk.  Little girls who are only crawling?  Damn dress just gets in the way. 

I refused to be put off, though.  After her morning nap, I dressed her up and took her downstairs.  She hated the dress.  It caused her all sorts of problems when she tried to get around the family room, but she looked absolutely adorable trying, so I took pictures anyway.

Seriously...look at this kid!

Now that is a kid who needs her bangs cut!

Anyway, it all worked out for Brigid because I didn't think about taking the dress off before I fed her lunch about an hour later, and she finished up the meal with some grapes in her teething, mesh bag, fruit holder, ring thingy.  She was a hugely sticky mess, with juice stains all down the front of her, when all was said and done, so the dress came off.  And Brigid was free to roam the house nekkid once again.

But it's clean now, so you'd better believe she's going back into this outfit first chance I get!

Indiana Pictures!

Well, there is definitely a reason that Steve is the photographer of the family.  It turns out, I completely and totally suck at being responsible for documenting special events in our lives.  I took some pictures in Indiana, but, if I'm being completely honest, most of them are terrible.

However, I didn't entirely fail at the task, as I did manage to catch the general gist of the weekend, in just a couple of shots.  So, maybe I'm not a terrible photographer, after all.  Maybe I just have a knack for minimalist photo journalism.

Or, maybe not...

Anyway, there was time spent in the pool...

...and time spent on the back porch, eating popsicles.

There were some sweet shades, dude!

Basically, I'd say she had a good time...

Until next summer, kids!

Hey, look...another trip to the doctor!

Quick administrative note...I did take pictures when we were in Indiana. And video. So, yes, Jennie, I do have super cute, chubby baby, bathing suit pictures to share.

However, they are all still on the camera, and not on the computer where I can get to them to do said sharing. Because I am lazy. And can't figure out how to get the darn pictures to upload themselves, with no work on my part. But I will get them up.

At some point.

------------------------------

We went to the cardiologist last Thursday (and I totally meant to post this update on Friday, but, you know...lazy, remember?), and apparently everything still looks fine. At one point, in one of our previous visits, they were worried about the possibility that one chamber of the heart was becoming enlarged due to pressure caused from the blood flow through the hole, but she had an EKG, and it seems that whatever abnormality they were seeing is gone. So, good news there.

On the other hand, it also seems that we've (emotionally) scarred our child for life with all of these vaccines and shots she's been stuck with because the minute the doctor hit the hand sanitizer and rubbed his hands together, Brigid lost her mind. There was screaming involved, and all the poor man wanted to do was listen to her heart. Luckily (I guess, since it means the hole is so small), the murmur is loud enough that he could hear it over her crying, because she didn't calm down again until he left the room. She either associates hand sanitizer with needles, or she hates the stethoscope. Either way, the doctor doesn't seem to think she has a problem with her lungs, and we will not be getting RSV vaccination shots this fall/winter.

Brigid's weight was 21lbs 2oz, right about at the 75th percentile, and her length was 28 1/4 inches, right about at (or slightly above) the 50th percentile. So she gained 4oz and grew 3/4 of an inch in 3 weeks? Do kids really grow that quickly? Insanity.

Anyway, we're set for another year, I guess. The doctor wants us to come back next summer for an ultrasound, and beyond that, we'll just wait and see. Maybe the hole will close completely, maybe it won't. All I know is we have an adorably healthy baby...what more could we want?

Besides, it's not like it's slowing her down at all...

Crazy kid.

This, from the crazy whose iPod cycled through the ND Fight Song, two Christmas songs, something from the Newsies soundtrack, and a New Kids in the Block song yesterday...

Steve and I rounded out our summer concert experience last night, heading to the Tom Petty show at Philips Arena here in Atlanta. We have now officially done one concert that we both loved this year, one concert more for me, and one concert more for Steve. Don't get me wrong, I love Tom Petty, and I always have a fantastic time at his shows, but this was definitely a 'can't miss' evening for Steve. So we made sure we didn't miss it.

In fact, we basically sat on the stage so as not to miss it...

See that right there? See how close we were? Let's just say I had a much clearer view of Tom Petty than most people ever really need...

And see how far I had to walk to get to a bathroom?

You can't even see how far I had to walk to get to a bathroom. That's how far it was.

Steve was thrilled.

Anyhoo...

You know how they say you learn something new everyday?

Well, yesterday I learned that I am not such a big fan of Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Seriously. The dudes opened for Petty last night, and they honestly almost put me to sleep.

While I can appreciate a good guitar solo as much as the next guy (as long as the next guy hasn't picked up a guitar in his entire life, either), I don't need to hear an entire set list made up of 20 minute songs, especially when 15 of that 20 minutes consists of 6 guys standing on stage making weird facial expressions while watching one guy play the guitar. Even if that one guy playing the guitar is good like Stephen Stills. I can handle maybe one or two of these songs, but that's where I draw the line. I lean more towards the good drum solo side of things, if you must know. Or maybe just the loud drum solo side of things. I've never picked up a drumstick in my life, either, so who am I to say what's good and what isn't?

(Also on my list of things I don't need? An organ solo. Not a piano. Not a keyboard. An organ. I mean, what??)

Whatever. Care to guess what else I learned last night? Graham Nash is English. Neil Young is Canadian. Stills is from Texas, and David Crosby is from California. Yes, I wikipedia'd these fools during one of the 17 guitar solos. (I'm probably pretty lucky the waaaay more into it than I was people around me didn't take this as a personal offense and try to drag me from the arena.) Also, did you know Neil Young and freaking Rick James were in a band together in the 60s? You do now. It was apparently a disaster, involving a thieving manager, military AWOL-ness, and the FBI. Good times.

I love Wikipedia.

So, to sum up the evening:

*Tom Petty = AWESOME!

*Crosby, Stills, and Nash = eh...

*Sitting on the floor = totally worth the extra ticket costs (especially after listening to the encore from farther up so we could avoid the mad rush of people trying to get up the stairs when the concert was officially over...it was a completely different (and less entertaining) show from that level).
*Being able to offer my extra hair tie to the extremely long-haired gentleman in front of me when he gave his up for his wife's use = highlight of my night!

*Not drinking at a concert = ridiculously entertaining experience, especially when you can be all judgey, judgey with the drunk dancing happening around you.

*Going to bed at 12:30am and getting up at 5:30am to head to work = not something this 30-year old enjoys as much today as the 20-something she used to be did in the past. Even without the drinking, it's tough.

Thank goodness today is my Friday!

Back home again, in Indiana...

Hey-o!

I am back, y'all...back to the world of internet connections, cable, and cell phone service. I'm back to work, back to laundry, and away from the pool. I am no longer on 24-hour baby duty.

And, truth be told, it all kind of sucks.

Brigid and I had a fantastic time at the parental compound back in Indiana. Many, many, many thanks and my undying love and devotion to my parents for driving to Atlanta and back (and most especially to my mother, who did it twice within a week!) to pick us up so that I didn't have to make the 10+ hour trip with Brigid by myself. Because that? Most definitely would not have worked. Unless I am sitting right next to that kid, shoveling food into her mouth and cycling through every. single. toy. that I brought for her at 30 second intervals (that 30 seconds being the amount of time each toy would keep her occupied before she became bored and dropped it down into the crack between her seat and the car door, right out of my reach), there is an ungodly amount of screaming involved in traveling with her. Even with all of my amazing skills at distraction, there's still some shrieking going on, so I don't plan on taking too many Brigid/mommy roadtrips on my own any time soon.

Anyway, the trip was exactly what you'd expect from a few days in the country. I never used a blow dryer. I think I put on make-up once. I spent most of the days in my swimsuit. Brigid spent almost the entire time in nothing but a diaper. We were outside nonstop. There were popsicles involved. Ice cream! Watermelon! Wine!*

We lost power twice, and because of that, I actually went to bed at 8:30 one night. It was amazing.

We lost Brigid's white noise machine during one of these outages, and I downloaded an app on my iPhone to replace it. With my phone pulling double duty during sleep time, I wasn't checking Twitter or email or Facebook every five minutes like I normally do. It was refreshing.

Brigid would wake-up, eat breakfast, play for a little bit. She'd take her morning nap, wake up, eat again. We'd get in the pool for at least an hour. She'd go down for another nap, and most days I'd have to go wake her up after a couple of hours for fear she wouldn't go back to sleep that night. She'd eat again and jump back in the pool for another hour.** A little more playing, a little dinner, a bath, and off to bed for the night. Then we'd wake up and do it all over again the next day. The last night we were there? It took everything we had to get Brigid out of the pool after she'd been in for something close to two hours. Her grandpa would hand her out to her grandma, and that kid would reach right back out for grandpa, begging to get back in. I'm not sure if you understand how the whole grandparent thing works, but when the grandchild reaches out to the grandparent, asking for something? The grandchild will get it 9.9 times out of 10. We finally put a stop to it when I realized it was after 7pm, and we were getting dangerously close to the point where Brigid is so overtired she refuses to sleep. I hate that point.

The first day back in Atlanta, with my mother-in-law watching her, Brigid took a three hour nap in the morning followed by a two hour nap in the afternoon. Nonstop fun is exhausting.

We had a barbecue with the extended family. Brigid spent time with her various great-grandparents. There were new people everywhere. There was a minute where it seemed to be too much for the poor kid, where the number of people talking to her seemed to overwhelm her. She's good with meeting new people a few at a time. That many, descending on her all at once? We had our first 'cling to mommy' moment. But grandma took her off to play for a few minutes, and she came back as good as new. I remain shocked at how quickly she warms up to people.

I loved spending so much time with her. I loved spending so much time with my family. I loved that Brigid seemed to love spending so much time with my family.

She would wave good morning to everyone when she woke up. She'd wave good night when she went to bed. She talked nonstop. She gave out more kisses than I'd ever seen her give out. I personally received more kisses last week than I'd received in her first ten months combined.

I like to think that was her way of thanking me for taking her up there.

And Miss B? Believe me, you are welcome.

I hope we can do it again next year!

*The wine was for me, not for Brigid. In case I needed to clarify...
**Brigid, she loves the water. She is a swimmer, that girl. Seriously, she kicks and paddles like a pro, and she absolutely doesn't mind getting water in her face. I'm ready to find someone to teach her how to hold her breath and float, because I'm pretty sure I couldn't keep her out of the pool if I tried, and the sooner she learns how to swim, the better I'll feel!

Ten Months

Yes, I know I'm a day late on this, but we just spent a very nice couple of days in Indiana swimming and eating and playing outside, while completely avoiding t.v. and phones and internet. It was awesome, and you loved it, so I know you forgive me for my lazy posting. Plus, I'm your mom, so you have to forgive me. That's the way these things work, kiddo.

Anyway, you turned ten months old yesterday, and we celebrated with french fries at a McDonald's somewhere in Tennessee. I think you would have preferred the french fries without the 10 hour car ride that surrounded them, but sometimes you take what you can get. Once again, you grew by leaps and bounds this month, enjoying your first playdate and spending your first weekend away from your mom and dad. I was worried that there might be some separation anxiety when your dad and I left you for our trip to Denver, but I knew it would be solely on our side of things, as you are perfectly content hanging out with or without us. And you know what? I was right. One trip to Toys R Us and a dinner at Don Pablos later, and you may have actually been disappointed when daddy and I got home.

Oh, what else happened this month?

TEETH!! You grew teeth. Two, to be exact. Just when I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever get any of those suckers in your lifetime, you popped two out, one right after the other. And the fussiness and nightly wake-up calls? Maybe, possibly, finally explained. And maybe, possibly, finally on hold. At least until the next round of teething commences. So, no hurry or anything. I'm fine with just the two, thanks.

We hit your nine month check-up a few weeks late, and the doctor informed us that we needed to work on transitioning you to adult food. And wouldn't you know? Your dad was all over that request. And you've been pretty excited about it yourself. You started off a little slow, but I think you've finally come around to the joys of textured foods. You love mushrooms and avocados and pureed cauliflower. You are all for cooked apples and grilled cheese and tofu and eggs. Spaghetti and meatballs? Yes, please. Popsicles? You seem a little tentative at first, what with the whole coldness factor, but you get over that after one taste. Pasta, peas, carrots, bananas, animal crackers, pancakes, sweet potatoes? Keep it coming. I'm impressed with the variety of foods you can put away, honestly, and I just hope you can keep it up. I think your dad would be incredibly disappointed if you were a picky baby.

You can pick Elmo out of a crowd. You can crawl up the stairs. You are walking around, using the furniture for support. You are considering stepping away from that furniture support, but you're not quite there, yet. And really, I'm not quite there, yet, either. You sing and dance and wave 'hi' and 'bye-bye' like a crazy woman. You are talking up a storm now. I'm not exactly sure what you are saying, but it seems important, so I keep listening. In fact, I have to keep listening. If you feel like we're not hanging on your every word, you give a little (LOUD!) shriek to bring our attention back to you. We found this out the hard way when we tried to take you out to dinner a couple of weeks ago. I'm not so sure our fellow diners appreciated this, and I can only hope you don't try it when we take you on your first plane ride in a month.

You tried to give Peyton a kiss (open mouthed, of course) when you got back from Indiana last night, you were so excited to see her. Riley kissed you before you could get to her because she was too excited to wait her turn. You were ridiculously excited to see your toys.

You're still the same happy baby you've always been, and I couldn't ask for anybody more fun to spend my time with.

Happy birthday, Bug!

I love you.

Let's be honest...after all of this work, I'm totally expecting the second coming of Mary Poppins here.

It looks as though the prolonged nanny search has officially come to an end! We've found someone long-term to cover our open Thursdays time slot with little Miss B! Of course, that's if, by long-term, you mean August-October, with a break in November for some full-time student teaching, then back on again in December, until we lose her to more student teaching in her final semester of school! And considering we've been going week-to-week here for a couple of months, I absolutely consider that long-term.

This is how far I've fallen.

The search, it has done me in, that's for sure. We've joined childcare provider websites. We've posted the job three times. We've had a ton of applicants. We've done several interviews. We found one lady that seemed like a great fit for us, until we discovered she'd been married five times. And I'm not sure that would have been a deal breaker for us, had her nanny profile not made it seem like she had been married to one man for 30 years. Interestingly enough, a creatively worded profile designed to hide some past life choices you'd wish to forget is not what I'm looking for when I'm hiring someone to watch my child. In my house. Without me around.

But it's all over now, at least for the next five months. We found not one, but TWO people that we liked in this phase of job postings, and I've made the offer to one of the candidates, and she's accepted, and I couldn't be happier. Except for that part where I now have to call the other person that I really, really liked, and tell her that while I really, really liked her, I just really, really liked the other girl better. And that kind of sucks. It's like having the break-up conversation, and do you know how long it's been since I've had the break-up conversation? Let's just say it's been awhile. I'm out of practice, and to be honest, I wasn't really all that good at it in the first place. I don't know how the kids are doing it these days. Can I still use the 'It's not you, it's me' and the 'I'd like it if we could still be friends' (or in this case, 'I'd like it if I could still call you to baby-sit in the evenings sometimes') lines?

Or better yet, can't I just pawn this whole thing off on my husband instead? That seems like a much better option to me...

*****

PS: Brigid and I are leaving for Indiana this week, to spend a few days at the parental compound, which is waaaay out in the country. The kind of country where anything beyond a dial-up internet connection does not exist. So...yeah. See you next week, I guess.