Giggles.

Today was a really hectic day. I have to do a presentation for approximately 50 people tomorrow, and I'm feeling not so prepared. I will be, but have lots to do. Good thing I'm so focused on it and not blogging or anything. This vid's really short, just Dani giggling and me encouraging giggles!


Back to the grind.

Big day out.

In about a half an hour, Dani and I are going to a restaurant. This is the first time I'm really trying it, and am meeting my friend Debby at a pizza place in Gloversville. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Apologies in advance to anyone who may be dining at Plaza Pizza and Pasta today. There's about to be a screaming hell baby on the loose.

We got up early today to get ready for our big outing.

We had a bath--Dani was splashing and having fun. I took a full body shot, but feel a little about posing full frontal of my kid on the internet. :)

Then we dried off with Dani's new Little Bears Fan towel, a present for Big Man from his pal Bill.

And, to signify the big day, Dani's wearing actual clothes--pants and a shirt--no sleepers here!

Daddy came home from work and made us all breakfast, and hung out for awhile--lots of fun. We tried out Dani's high chair, which dwarfs her right now, but she will fill it up soon enough!

OK, we're off! Hope our ladies lunch goes well!

My turn to talk, by Dani.

Hi, it's Dani here. It's been awhile since mommy's let me write on her blog. Yesterday, I got a bouncy jumparoo. It has a jungle theme. My feet don't quite reach the floor yet, so mommy and daddy have to make it bounce for me. But, since I'm so good at sitting up and holding up my head, I totally needed something to play in!

Things sure are fun here. Daddy's home with me all day, and he is teaching me lots of neat stuff. I can pick up my rattles and toys, and hold them, and sometimes I even throw them. Every day, he puts me on my tummy. I used to hate it, but now I can prop myself up on my elbows, and when I get tired, I just flip over onto my back.

(ps. Aunt Amy's mom knitted this blanket and I love it!)

It's getting warmer. There's this bright yellow thing in the sky that hurts my eyes. Mommy says it's the sun. I haven't seen it much because it has been cold and I've been inside a lot. But, I'm going more places now that I'm getting big. In fact, mommy put me in the baby backpack and we took a walk today. We stopped at the Mayor's house and she walked with us too. I felt super important because, on my very first walk ever, I got escorted by the City Mayor! I must be a VIB (very important baby).

I'm also eating cereal, from a spoon! I'm not so good at the eating part, but I sure am good at making a big mess. I'm doing better on the whole swallowing thing. One of these days I'll get to have something other than boring old rice cereal and formula. Daddy baked cupcakes and they looked so good, but he said I'm too little for one.

Well, it's nap time. I still don't like to take naps, but I am really good at sleeping all night long. I'm back to sleeping in my own room, just like a big girl. And I'm getting big. I'm already wearing 6 month clothes, and I'm only 3 1/2 months! I'm probably going to do lots of stuff early. I'm sure mommy will write all about it. Bye for now!

Dani

Just like a big girl.

Look at my little kid leaning on her arms and just sprawled out on her elbows, ankles crossed like a big girl! (Although I must confess that *gasp* my floorboards need a coat of paint; that is the first thing I noticed!)

Bought her a jumperoo today! She had a blast, pics soon!

Big Man caught on video! (well, his voice anyway)

Dani's rockin' the fleece from Tara. So cute!

Big Man caught some great footage of Dani today. His commentary made me teary. :)

Daddy loves his baby.

Our new stove arrived! Woo hoo. It rocks. Big Man cooked a very tasty, oven-baked chicken parm.

The end of an era.

Tonight, we bid farewell to the pimp car. Big Man sold it on craigslist.

Ah, when I became a man I put away childish things. More like, when I became a parent, I got rid of all the fun shit I used to have time to enjoy, but do not any more because my life is consumed by dirty diapers and baby giggles. Totally worth the trade off. (Now if I could just manage to convince him to get rid of the motorcycle and put away the college relics, we'd be all set.) He didn't get that much for the car, but he was going to let a junk yard haul it away. Then, I suggested craigslist, and I guess he posted the car.

I instructed Big Man that he is not to deposit the money into our bank account, but that he's to do fun things with hit. He offered me some, but I declined. His toy from his bachelor days. But, I did tell him that when we are in Chicago in May, he should take us out on the town. He agreed. Everybody wins!

The Shakedown.

Yes, I am shaking you down, dear reader (Dad).

I am going to participate in the Alzheimer's Walk, and if everyone that reads my blog donates $5, then I will raise $5 (thanks Dad!).

In this economy, I realize that every dollar is precious, and we all have our causes. I say no to lots of donation requests, so no pressure. But, if you wanted to forego the morning latte and give me a buck or two, it will help research efforts for a cure.

And, just think of the cute pics I will have to post of Dani and I walking on May 3! Hopefully, this will be a link to my donation site (and as you can see, I'm the only donor so far...I will update it if you donate!):


Click Here to Donate

Video killed the radio star.

Warning: this first video is pretty long (like 3 mins). Just Dani on the changing table, chirping and having fun.

When we finished the changing table video (x2), she started to fuss, so I had to capture that too.

Turns out she was hungry, oops. It was a little early (not even 3 hours since her last feeding) but the kid's a little chowhound today!

Since this week is going to be insane, the videos will have to make due for a coupla days!

Busy week ahead.

Life's been rough. As you can see there's no stove in my kitchen, so I've been unable to cook and we've had to order out. :) New stove should be delivered tomorrow.As always, Dani's always smiling for Daddy! As for me:

I have to take testimony from witnesses in 3 different cases this week. All and all it should be prosecuting or defending about 8 depositions. This will involve regional travel on Monday and Friday, and lots of time and preparation. I don't have much deposition experience, and am a little nervous, particularly because I can't really get any work done until Big Man wakes up and takes over, or until Dani sleeps, which does not seem likely at the moment. But she's smiley and happy and just so darn cute!

I've been digging out all the stuff we got when she was tiny, or before she was born and it's like getting presents all over again! Here's two "new" rattles that just got unearthed! And, because mommy's in charge, crazy baby hair!

And then I got a good night's sleep!

And then Dani slept from 10pm until 8am and didn't fuss once all night. And Big Man brought home a bagel sandwich and a chocolate glazed donut and they were both for me.

And all was, again, right with the world.

We even took a walk today in the stroller. It's really hard and bumpy because the sidewalks are kind of uneven, but I was afraid to walk her in the street because I've always sneered at people who do that. Good thing is, it's nice enough to take her out now, woo hoo!

Looks like the bumpy ride did her some good, I'm hearing some rumbling and some tooting if you get my drift! I'll need to attend to that now.

Back in the day

I used to be really fun. No longer.

(Big Man gives Dani the lotioned hair comb down, but when I'm in charge after her bath, I always do the crazy, curly, baby mohawk!)

Back in the day, I used to pay attention to a lot more stuff than I do. I basically get my news from news radio on my 5 minute commute to work, and then The Daily Show if I can stay up.

My secretary comes into work often and asks me if I've heard any number of things which were local news headlines the night before. (nope)

Our house has been on the market since August. It's a great house, the one we have. Not like the character-less minivan of houses we are under contract to buy. But that one's more family friendly, blah, blah, blah. We had a mortgage commitment, but it expired because they only last 3 months, so me and Big Man had to re-sign all docs and provide new info (thank god we have great credit because apparently it's gotten slightly harder to get credit now that the banking industry frowns on unverified loans and had to contribute approximately the gross domestic product of France to keep it afloat) and the loan processor called me to mention that they would need a more recent purchase contract. And so I politely explained to her (because she clearly did not *read* my existing contract) that although we signed a contract to purchase last August, if she read the contingency (expressly contingent on the sale of my existing home) and realized that it did not have an end date (because who the f*&k is going to buy the sellers' house in this market either WTF?) then she would know that I'm still under contract to buy a house. But only if I ever sell mine. And, since my house has been on the market, I've (a) replaced the circulator in the furnace [not cheap]; (b) replaced the oven element [cheap but only lasted a month]; (c) replaced the whole flippin' freestanding range because we cheaped out and just tried to replace the element the first time it broke; and (d) no doubt done some other shit we didn't want to have to do because we wanted to move out of this house before we had Dani. Which was 3 months ago!

AND, did I mention that, because I was pretty pregnant (and clearly overly optimistic) in August, that I packed TONS of shit into (ten medium and 5 large) moving boxes I actually paid for at the UPS store, because I was sure the house would sell before I had the baby. And now, the baby's 3 months old, her Cubs romper is forever packed away, never to be worn, as Dani will clearly be a teenage mom before we unload this albatross of a house; the crockpot, toaster, and a shitload of rarely-used but much loved items such as my panini press and mini bundt pans have been packed away for 6 months.

And, at this point, I'm just waiting for more shit to go wrong so we can have to fix it and not be able to raise our sale price. (Big Man contends that we are selling our house with a stove, and so we can take our stove with us, and just leave a stove, but I've been telling him that as a lawyer that has real estate experience, that's not kosher and will not happen here.) Better yet, let Big Man's caddy crap the bed so we can add a car payment to the joy that is ours.

And, Big Man gave the kid too much cereal last night, and I had to take her to my democratic committee meeting (which is held in the county's supreme courthouse) and she was sick and screaming (local grandma-emeritus Debi took her to the law library and shut the doors so the meeting could continue) so throughout the meeting I could hear muted screams which did not stop. But, I'm the party chair and was running the meeting, so I carried on. At the close of the meeting (record time) I found Debi covered in puked up cereal/formula. Fun times. Got her home, and after an hour of screaming, and her not taking even water, I woke up Big Man (an hour early) and he calmed her, and rubbed her belly, and soothed her. And then he fed her and she threw up all over him. So we changed her, calmed her, and eventually got a little liquid into her before bedtime. And she slept through the night, and all was well.

But, today she was fine. Fine all day for Big Man. Literally as he began to get ready for bed she began to fuss, and once the bedroom door clicked shut so he could sleep, with the fan on and hear no outside disturbance, she let loose with the hellish screams. that. did. not. stop. until. she. eventually. took. a. brief. nap. and. began. screaming again. BUT, then I had to wake Big Man up, so she stopped and I fed her, and as Big Man prepared to leave for work, she unleashed again. So, at least, he heard it and didn't think I made it all up. Didn't swaddle her because she likes her fist better than the pacifier, and 3 minutes or so after Big Man left at 10:10pm, she is sleeping, or at least quiet. For now.

And, I'm realizing that we have, like, 3 photos of the three of us, and very few of me and Dani. But I have about 250 photo album pics of Dani alone, and that's about it. Need to remedy that. Before she gets her driver's license.

And, husband who never reads this blog but who used to be romantic. Buy me some flowers or do something nice because this is really getting tiresome.

My kind of store.

Indulge me. I'm not pregnant again (yet). This is my kind of store, mmmmmm breakfast.

Throw in some good bread and I'm in heaven!

Baby's first motorcycle ride

Well, not quite yet. Maybe when Dani's a little older, like 21 or something. But, Grandpa likes his motorcycle and has high hopes for Dani!

Grandma and Grandpa just sent Dani this shirt--they added the "Grandpa".

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I found a little leprechaun!

Happy St. Patty's Day to all!

Spring has sprung.

It's sunny and in the 50s. It's finally starting to feel like spring! I've been taking Dani out more, because she doesn't need to get bundled up, and just got a stroller from craigslist, the non-carseat kind so we can start taking walks when Big Man's sleeping. Here's Dani getting ready to go to the store:

She loves looking in her mirror:

She's really getting so big, and fun. I noticed that she can pick things up and hold them, move them, etc. I mentioned it to Big Man last night, as he was putting a rattle in her hand. He said, "I'm not a tard, mommy, I'm just little." and then told me that one thing he works with her on daily is holding things, etc., eye hand coordination type stuff.

Having a little fun with the sepia setting on the camera:

Dani really seems to enjoy being fed with a spoon--even if she doesn't really eat anything. She's still learning, but is just so smiley and happy and fun. She's had rice cereal and oatmeal so far, and I can't wait to start feeding her lots of new stuff!

In a rare move, last night we watched a movie! Big Man had gotten Stepbrothers on blu-ray from netflix. It was funny. We both agreed that it was much funnier than we thought the premise could be. The bar was pretty low, because Will Ferrell struggles to carry a movie, so we didn't expect much. Still, Dani slept/amused herself during the movie and we had some precious time together before Big Man had to head to work.

This morning when Big Man came home, he brought bacon, and proceeded to make us a big ol' breakfast of pancakes, bacon, eggs, coffee! Dani and I went to the store again (where she was ogled by all) and had some fun with the camera. I should be working, but I'm not. Waiting to hear from my boss about what time we are meeting up today. I have a TON of work to do, but am really not so motivated to do any of it.

Please don't buy my kid these toys!

**I am not funny enough to make this shiz up.

From the world of inappropriate toys for kids comes:

Little Red Riding Ho Barbie. Truly available at Toys R Us and described this way:Product Description--Introducing the Barbie collector doll Little Red Riding Hood and Wolf doll giftset. The classic story of Little Red Riding Hood gets a thoroughly modern twist! Barbie doll wears a super sassy costume complete with short pleated red skirt, stylish matching cape, fitted white bodysuit, black lace-up vest, black fishnet knee-high stockings, and red trimmed black heels. Accompanying basket includes bread and magazines. Yikes! A super scary wolf in stylish threads joins Barbie doll on the way to grandma's house.

I guess the good news is that Mattel recommends this doll for ages 6 and up, certainly the appropriate age for fishnets and heels!

And, in the world of blow up toys. Dani won't be blowing up one of these anytime soon!

Please help!

Dani says, "Please help me, a crazy lady is trying to eat me."

Tasty baby. NOM. NOM. NOM.

Three months ago...

A little close up for you. (And yes, a new sleeper, size 6M, and she pretty much fills out the length. Look at those sweet, brown eyes.

I put the cat (Scrubbie) on the chair with Dani, but he wanted no part of participating in picture time. This is what I was able to catch of of him jumping off the chair, while Dani watches.

Three months ago...my kiddo was born. Time sure flies! Doc visit Thursday, so we will have the latest stats about Dani's progress. She is currently almost too long for 6 month clothes!

We have house showings Wednesday and Thursday--keep your fingers crossed for us! Because moving with a baby would be fun. Right?

Cereal, a mommy's best friend.

Mmmm tasty cereal. She didn't really figure out how to swallow it, but had a lot of fun trying!

We gave Dani a bottle of formula and cereal last night--and she slept from 9:30pm until 7:30am! Woo hoo! Just a little intermittent sleep crying during the night--and I feel great today! Woo hoo!

All dressed up for Daddy's birthday, Saturday.

Happy Birthday Big Man!

Today, Big Man turns 37. He's upstairs sleeping right now, but Dani and I are surprising him with this:

No, I did not bake this, the cake lady I found on craigslist did. It is, however, in my tupperware cake holder, and all evidence of purchase is gone, so Big Man will just have to wonder whether I have mad cake decorating skillz.......

Today's also my mom's birthday--shout out to MJ! Love you!

And, Big Man, although you don't read the blog--love you with all my heart!

Just call me Farmer B.

Yesterday, I purchased 4 shares of a CSA farm. For only $300, I will receive 20 weeks of produce and eggs (and fresh cut flowers) all locally grown from a farm that uses organic practices but is not certified organic.

Once per week, starting in mid-June, I will go to the farm (about 5 miles from my home) and pick up my week's supply of freshly picked and locally grown fruits and vegetables. They are even going to have a CSA "trade" table so if you don't like a particular vegetable you can trade it for other stuff. I'm excited--we are just about to start Dani on cereal, and by summer, she should be eating veggies--ones that (if they don't come out of a baby food jar) I have steamed and mushed up.

The guy who ran the farmstand right by my house just retired, so I had to do something. And, since I spent all the money up front (read: sucka) I will feel obligated to go out and get my harvest each week. Of course you take on the risks of a shitty harvest and bad weather, but, I am helping a local farmer. I'm pretty excited.

Tomorrow's Big Man's birthday, and I'm going to prepare a Martha Stewart Living recipe from this month's issue (I only subscribed because it was $15 for the whole year). A beef brisket with savory vegetables. David and Gail are coming over, and it is day one of the marked calendar days for making baby number 2.

I brought the baby to the grocery store tonight just to get the dinner items for tomorrow. She's really getting fussy around folks that aren't Big Man or me, and we just can't have that. She was dream at the grocery store, in her car seat just chillin' in the shopping cart. Strangers were actually commenting and cooing. No lie. This is a big THANKS DANI because incompetent mommy forgot the pacifier, so if she HAD had a meltdown, I would have been forced to wheel her to the baby aisle, open a package of pacifiers, open it, and hope not to get popped for shoplifting before I could purchase it upon checkout. No lie. My kid is flippin' addicted to sucking on everything from her bink to her hand to her shirt or a rattle or whatever else you will give her, and I leave the house with nothing for her to suck. And lord knows that psycho mommy would NEVER let Dani suck her finger (even as a last resort) once it had touched the germy nasty shopping cart. Suffice it to say that Dani was a champ!

Anyway, you didn't come here for me to yammer, you came to see this kid:

Yes, she still fits in the stripey sleeper and we don't have any other covers for the Boppy pillow. Deal.

Amateur video.

Yes, I'm an amateur, and there are lots of us on the ol' internet.


My digital camera records video, so I thought I would try to upload two Dani shorts. Now, they aren't great--in fact, I sound kind of like a moron, but for all you folks who just look at the Dani photos (Dad) here's your chance to see it live action! Now, in this first one, Dani is wearing one of what seems like the few sleepers she has-at least all the pictures I have are beginning to look the same, same boppy pillow, and a handful of pastel sleepers she lives in. Seriously, we do try to mix it up by actually talking to her and singing and reading and shiz, I promise. We just hate little baby outfits that require more effort than unsnapping a handy one piece. She does wear a onesie too, haters.


So the first video is Dani, chillin' on the "donut" pillow sucking her thumb,

The next one is her in the bumbo chair--clearly struggling to hold up her big melon head at the end, but figuring out the rattle! These videos are taking FOREVER to upload so I have to assume that unless you have super high speed you won't have the patience to try. Again, the sound is on, so I sound like a bleepin' moron! But, enjoy the cuteness.

Someday, I will post about something other than my kid, I promise. Just not today.

Someday, I will have something more interesting to say, I promise!

Daily Dani.

This kid will NOT stop smiling at her daddy!

In other news, I tried out the digital camera as a video camera today, and uploaded some videos. I didn't realize it would record sound, so I'm not going to post it because I sound utterly ridiculous! I am a babbling, baby-talking idiot! But, I've managed to figure it out, so videos of Dani will be forthcoming.

Hey y'all, Big Man's birthday is Saturday! He will be 37! I'm going to dress Dani up, and we are working on a Superman cake....don't tell him. Saturday's also my Mom's birthday, which is cool because it means that two of the people I love most in the world have the same birthday.

Headed to Family Court tomorrow--no fun! Always makes me want to come home and hug the family and thank them for not being dysfunctional.

Satan at work against me.

No wonder Big Man cooks every night! Not my fault, Satan has distracted me!
But, if I were going to cook dinner, I'd be sure to consult this handy food pyramid:

Best. Hat. Ever.

A little shout-out to Andrew P., who picked out this awesome hat for Dani. Thanks!

Fun weekend!

Had a fun weekend all the way around! Jackie came over to visit on Saturday afternoon. Then Tara came over to hang out with Dani, and with lots of baby goodies! Then Tara and I went out for dinner and cosmos. My first cosmo since March '08! Was a great time. And, Big Man had last night off. Dani was very smiley for Jackie!
Dani and Tara, just having some girl time.