Clingy, Toothy & All Good

E is just getting in her second tooth. It means fitful sleeping and lots of Mommy clinginess, but she's still mostly happy. Of course when she'd not, she's really cranky. If I just nursed her all day, she'd be happy, but I would probably be not so.

Today we also had her 9 month check-up. Her new digits are 19.5 pounds and 28 inches. I guess we didn't need to switch her carseat yet after all. She also had a quick toe prick to test her iron count. She is doing great at 12.5. So, I guess we'll keep doing what we're doing. :) Overall I'd say, she's all good!!

Now if only I could get our medical worker to call us back (the only bad news we found out at our appointment) about E's seeming inactive status. Not to bag on those social service workers... but ours is a nightmare and the stories we could (but I won't) tell. BLAH!

Spelling with Flickr

Do you like our new header picture? Sure I could have put up a nice landscape or a cute collage of us, but this was quite fun (and new, at least to me). The photos are from flickr, the new photo program we've been using the share our photos. But your in luck... I'm going to tell you a secret... I did not have to look for all the photos, photoshop it together, and then put it up. All I did was go to Erik Kastner's site Spell with Flickr. He did all the programming and after you've made your perfect banner, he'll give you the necessary html to repost it. Of course our name is a bit long, so a little photoshop cropping (courtesy of tips and skills learned from working with Corrie) and VOILA. Cool Banner.

Ok, now I'll leave you to your creative spelling!

The Most Disgusting Things Ever

Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration - but not far from it. Only in Japan! Check out these gross ice cream flavors (up until now, the only weird ones I'd seen in Asian markets were avocado, tarot, red bean, and cheese and corn):

101 Frightening Ice Cream Flavors

The raw horsemeat ice cream sounds especially disgusting. Interesting also were the ice creams made from non-foods (such as the silk and charcoal flavors).

Missing Posts I Meant to Write

Oh the many posts I meant to write... Posts about E learning to crawl "properly". Posts about E pulling herself up to her knees and then doing the knee-shuffle. Posts about E getting into CDs, books, computer cables and more. Posts about her "calling" Da-Da and Ma-Ma. Posts about her waving hello and goodbye (very cute by the way). Posts about changes in naps. And posts about our new (but accidental and probably not ideal) sleeping arrangement.

Yet alas, what you all get is this quick one about how E is still sleeping in our bed and needing me to remain in the room while she sleeps. This has reduced my productivity and makes me feel a bit trapped. And yet, I guess it forces me to sleep a bit earlier - which considering she is up about 2-4 times a night wanting to nurse, I probably need it.

Actually, I'm very surprised tonight that she hasn't woken to the tappity tap sound of the laptop (which I have in bed in the darkened room) while she sleeps.

Harry Pottermania

This past weekend was pretty fast-paced. Thursday we left for Stockton to stay with my family. Once there, we started off the Harry Potter festivities by seeing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the movie theater with my sister Colleen (her second time seeing it - everyone else had already seen it). It was an okay movie, but it felt a bit too rushed. The next day, Gilda called Barnes & Noble to find out when the Harry Potter book 7 party started since we had seen conflicting times listed. They said the party started at 8pm but that they were starting to hand out numbers for the midnight lines to get the book at 3pm. So we got there around 3:30ish and after an hour or so in line (Gilda mostly holding our place while E and I wandered inside), we procured four tickets for the family (we ended up having tickets numbered in the high 180's/low 190's range).

Later that night, we had a hard time getting E to sleep so the rest of my family went there ahead of us. E , however, would not sleep and not wanting to place a burden on my grandparents (at whose house we were staying), we ended up taking her with us to B&N. There, we met up with Colleen, Drew (my youngest brother - Jordan had to work that night), my mom, and Gabriel (brother-in-law). They had commandeered a couple of tables and some chairs in the Starbucks cafe area and were courageously guarding them. So when we got there, we took shifts guarding the chairs while others went to check out all the other stuff going on. My sister Andrea was working at B&N that night and was doing facepainting for all the "kids" (really, most of the people in line seemed to be pretty old) and they were handing out cute glow-in-the-dark Harry Potter glasses that looked extra cute the few seconds E allowed them to be placed upon herself. There were also some great costumes about. All in all, there were well over 1,000 people in there, some of them looking very hot and/or tired as the night wore on. When they actually started calling numbers, the lines went super-quick and we were out of there within 15 or 20 minutes after they started.

By now, of course, Gilda and I have both finished the book and it's by far my favorite of the whole series. I was pretty happy that I had correctly predicted the basics of the ending! You can really see the Christian and Lewisian influences come to fruition in this last book (I've heard more than once that Rowling has said that she's a Christian, and this is more obvious in this last book than in any of the previous ones - strange, then, the accusations of some well-meaning people (who probably have never read the books) that the books are "evil"!). Highly recommended.

Party pictures forthcoming.

(UPDATE: Pictures are in our Flickr Photo Banner to the right. Click on the pictures and see a larger version. Let's say we had some fun... and E was too cute... but now, a week and a half later, we're still "paying" for it in messed up schedules and sleepless nights. blah)