Brigid's Big Break

Brigid is in the newspaper!

Ok, so it's not like she's in the AJC so much as she's in the Dawson News and Advertiser (Which is apparently Dawson County's oldest and most read newspaper.  So there you go...).  And she's only in the paper because we submitted her picture as part of the paper's Halloween pictorial, and if you submitted it, they used it.  And she didn't make the front page, which is just wrong, and Steve has already promised to file a formal complaint about that little oversight.

But still...

Brigid is in the newspaper!

Awesome.

State of the Brigid

Brigid is starting to take to this whole walking thing. She's still not that consistent, but she can finally cross the room unassisted when she puts her mind to it. For some reason, this also involves walking with her arms straight up in the air, like she's still holding my hand or Steve's, but we'll go with it for now because it seems to work for her. At least she's not still trying to walk on her toes. That didn't seem to go as well...

Also, since Steve told me that the 6 1/2 minutes of Brigid falling down just wasn't going to cut it in the baby video department, we have some video from Sunday night of the actual progress she's making. And if I can ever figure out how to upload something like video out on this here internet, maybe I'll post that someday. If not, you'll just have to come to my house and see it for yourself.

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I think we have more teeth coming in. Finally!! Steve thought I was making things up, but I could see them on Friday. I swear, right below the gums, the top two teeth were just barely visible. But, since I couldn't get the kid to sit still, with her mouth hanging open, long enough for me to verify, we had to wait until they became more visible. Well, last night, they (or one of them, anyway) finally pushed through, and Steve was all smug with his 'did you see the tooth?' attitude.

Yes, dear. I saw the tooth. Friday. REMEMBER?!?!?

So. Annoying.

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I got a lot of kisses this past weekend from Brigid. A LOT. I think she may be buttering me up for something, and I'm starting to get a little nervous.

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I'm really starting to wish that I could keep a video camera on Brigid all day, every day, just to show you all what a funny little person she is becoming (and also so that I can go back and watch what a funny little person she is when she becomes the bratty big person I'm expecting her to become...). She's starting to mimic kissing noises, and I think we're only a short time away from teaching her how to blow kisses to people. When she's eating, she'll randomly throw her arms in the air and make the noise we've come to associate with 'touchdown', and she expects Steve and I to follow suit. She points at food and drink that other people are holding and makes the 'nom nom' noise when she wants a bite or a sip. She plays jokes on us, offering us food or a toy, only to pull it away at the last minute, laughing the whole time. She feeds the dogs from her high chair, laughing when I tell her no, because she already knows it's something she's not supposed to do, and she does it anyway.

She's funny, that kid. Thank goodness she inherited my personality...

Weekend in Review

I finished Brigid's Halloween costume! Actually, Steve put the final touched on the main costume, and I worked on the accessories. But it's finally done! I think! And Brigid hates it!

In her defense, I think I'd hate it too because it just seems...itchy. But I think I've taken the correct steps to rectify that, so we'll see on Sunday. Yes, there are pictures of Brigid trying on the costume, and no, you don't get to see them yet. If I showed you now, what would I have to share with you next Monday?

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Steve and I went to the Falcons-Bengals game on Sunday, since Steve is a diehard (although extremely beat-down) Bengals fan, and we don't get to see them every weekend like we used to. Seriously, when we lived in Cincinnati? Season tickets to the Reds games. Season tickets to the Bengals games. Season tickets to Xavier University basketball games. The miscellaneous University of Cincinnati event thrown in for good measure. A couple of trips to South Bend each football season and maybe a Colts game in Indy if we could arrange it.

Good times.

Now? Nothing. Atlanta sports are a little boring (In fact, the Falcons actually employ a D.J. whose sole role for the game seemed to be getting on the big screen to remind fans that it was no longer halftime, and they needed to make some noise. What kind of football fans need to be reminded to make noise?). Add to this the fact that Atlanta sporting events are ridiculously difficult to get into and out of, because traffic in Atlanta is a nightmare. As is parking. It's sad, but we just don't have the time or the energy to deal with it. Except for special occasions.

And Sunday was a special occasion. Unfortunately, the Bengals didn't see it that way, and they failed to show up in the first half of the game. They came back in the third quarter, only to disappoint Steve all over again when they apparently left early to beat the traffic with the rest of the Atlanta crowd. And when we finally got home late Sunday afternoon, we were officially exhausted and ready for bed at 6pm. In other words, while it's still a ton of fun to attend live sporting events, once a season seems to be enough for us these days.



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I did not go to bed at 6pm on Sunday night, however, because now that I am done with Brigid's Halloween costume, I have moved on to Steve's. And it is proving to be a much bigger task than I had anticipated.

Of course it is. My judgment sucks.

But I think it will be cool when I'm done with it, and I'm excited for the big unveiling. And if I'm wrong? Lie to me? Please?

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Only one more week until I can start listening to Christmas music without feeling like a complete fool! I'll still feel like a partial fool, perhaps, but that's something I can work with (or 'something with which I can work', I guess? damn grammar police living in my head...). I just hope our current 80+ degree weather holds up, because I'd love nothing more than to listen to Christmas music while driving home from work with the top down on my car.

Who needs cold weather? I've always felt that seasons were overrated, anyway...

Sleeping Beauty

Did I ever post the crappy cell phone pictures of Brigid I took one afternoon when I had to go wake her up because her afternoon nap time was stretching awfully close to her down for the night time?

No? Well here you go then...

You're welcome.

Just call me Grace...

I've been really tired in the evenings lately.  Something about my days over the last month or two have completely exhausted me to the point that I can barely get through what I need to do to keep my house running with some semblance of order, let alone squeeze in anything extra before I collapse in bed.  And that anything extra includes the running program that I started earlier this year.  And while I never thought I'd be the type of person to say this, I've actually missed it.

So, to make up for my general lack of motivation in the evening, I've started getting up early in the morning to squeeze in a run before work.  I even downloaded a kick butt Nike+GPS app for my iPhone that tracks my time, pace, distance, and route, just because I'm enough of a control freak that something like this makes the whole process that much more fun.  And things were going well...

...until yesterday morning, that is.  Yesterday morning, this happened...

Yes, this is a terrible picture, but that would be what is left of the skin on my leg, after I wiped out on Tuesday.  Just be happy that I spared you from what is under the bandage, because it is not pretty

See, my HOA is still running the sprinklers in October, because that's what they do.  They also set the sprinklers up on the small strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street, meaning that they are watering the sidewalks when I'm off and running.  So, yesterday morning, I headed into the street to avoid getting watered myself, at the same time that somebody on their way out of the neighborhood was driving towards me.  And since running towards traffic isn't high on my list of smart moves to make, I moved closer to the curb to avoid the car.  Unfortunately, the spot I moved towards happened to be the spot where the storm drain is built into the curb, and given the uneven/sloping pavement in that spot, I lost my balance and hit the ground.  The best part was that I did all of this in the spotlight created by the oncoming car's headlights, so the driver had a perfect view of the crazy face and inelegant sprawling that occurred when I went down.

Awesome.

He was nice enough to stop and make sure I was ok, and really, I felt fine.  At the time, that is.  Apparently, the 45 degree temps were enough to keep the pain at bay, while I finished my run, but once I got back home, all hell broke loose...and I've been whining about it ever since.  Because it really, really hurts.

A non-stick wound pad, gauze square, and gauze roll, plus some first-aid tape, regular band-aids, and anti-bacterial cream later, and I don't think it will ever stop hurting.  Because I am a big baby when it comes to pain.

(Yes, I am surprised I survived childbirth, too.  Yay for drugs.)

Can I take the rest of the week off to recover, now?

And so it begins...

Brigid is walking!!!!!!

Well, sort of. 

I mean, I guess it's walking...

Basically, she's toddling around the house, holding on to either my hand or Steve's (mostly Steve's, because I think she's afraid that I'll actually pick her up and put an end to all of her fun...), before letting go for one or two steps, realizing she's walking unsupported, and then drop to the ground. 

She can stand by herself!  She can walk by herself!  She's just not particularly excited about it.

But on Sunday night, she was able to walk slowly, while holding on to both of my hands.  It was about all she could do to keep herself upright with only one hand for support.*  By the time I came home from work last night, she was practically running all over the house with a toy in one hand, my hand in the other.  Goodness knows what I'm going to come home to tonight.

I just hope I can keep up with her...


*There was one moment on Sunday when Brigid was leaning against Steve, while he was sitting on the ottoman in our family room.  She took a step and a half away from him, then dropped to the ground.  In my excitement, I ran to get the video camera, because damn it, I was going to record her first steps.  I now have 6 1/2 minutes of film showing Steve holding Brigid up to steady her on her feet, then letting go, resulting in Brigid dropping immediately to the ground while Steve and I laugh at her.

Forget college...I should probably start saving for the poor girl's therapy bills.

Baby's first PB&J

Hey, Steve?  Maybe letting her feed herself on this one wasn't the best idea you've ever had...

 

Could we just go ahead and call this one 'Baby's last PB&J', too?