Narcissism

We are heading down to my sister's house this weekend and I probably won't have a chance to do Sophie Saturday on Saturday.

So, to tide you over until then, here is Sophie watching the video of herself from last week. And cracking her shit up over it. Aaron watches the videos with her over and over and she never gets tired of them. She only has to hear them playing and she cracks up.

ANTM and Veronica Mars

I had notes for ANTM, like Janice Dickinson being drunk and abusive and Jade being insane and Gina being dumb and tortured. And not understanding why weird-looking Furonda is still on the show.

But then it was all eclipsed because George Michael AND Maeby were on Veronica Mars. Not as their AD characters, although George Michael was still awkward and nervous. They were both great. Despite the fact that Maeby was raped and had her head shaved. Awful, yes. But I kept wondering how they hid all her hair under that baldish-looking hair cap. Or did they really shave her head?

Also? The previews for next week's ANTM show Tyra Banks collapsing. That's good tv.

In other news, I had another frickin' dentist appointment this morning to add some gum tissue looking plastic to the top of the temporary tooth and also to look at it because Sophie flails wildly sometimes and she knocked her head against my tooth about 2 weeks ago. And it's been loose since then. So, at first, the dentist thought that it was going to be fine to leave it a bit loose, but then as he was working on the tooth with a drill to add the 'gum tissue', he knocked it loose. er. And so, out with the tooth! In with 5 shots of Novocain! Lots of scraping of pesky gum tissue! Back in with the tooth! Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

Netflix and a couple of Thank Yous

We watched "Capturing the Friedmans" last night. Very interesting documentary about a family torn apart by pedophilia allegations. There were three sons, one of whom was sent to jail along with their father. I like how the filmmakers used home video footage along with interviews to just put information out there for the viewer to make their own assumptions. I think the father definitely was a pedophile - but whether he molested kids in his computer class? I don't know. His son was a victim. Another son, David, was a little crazy himself. The mom seemed to be the most sane.

Anyhoo, good documentary. Kind of hard to watch. Due to the pedophilia and all.

Also? I want to send out some thank yous to the following people:

Jon sent me the whole frickin' Cowbell Compilation! We are dying over here. I think this whole collection warrants a drinking game. Every time you hear a cowbell, drink! It's fantastic and surprising because, seriously? I didn't know "Baby Got Back" had a cowbell in it. Thank you!

Also, I purchased the most fabulous purse from SaltyGal. It is a reconstructed bag/purse made from, I think, cargo pants. In the photos, it looked gray and pink and adorable and then when I got it, it is more olive and red. The red EXACTLY matches my Spring coat. You should check out her shop because she's very talented. I first saw it in her flickr photos and then quickly emailed her to say I wanted to buy it from her. I'm so thrilled with it. And I'm not a purse person at all.

Also? Estella has her bad haircut Paint contest results up. If you don't read estella? You are missing out on one of the funniest blogs ever.

Oh, wait! I forgot! Remember the insane Britney Spears monument? I found a photo of Sean "Cheeto" Federline's crowning head.

Google Talk with Sophie

Sophie has discovered the computer keyboard:

Aaron: m,nb
\ mngf

Erika: sophie? is that you?

Aaron: sophie is typing

Erika: hee hee

Aaron: ccr esrj jk gcfhbj c

Erika: smooch her for me
ha ha ha

Aaron: x xfr
lol
okm he4d5c kj ?2xd3xkn, vg

hjhj c jh N N.S
HA
she put the caps lock on
haha
ok
I love you

Call ended with Aaron at 12:18 PM on Tuesday

Netflix Recap

Recently, we've been watching 'Dead Like Me', Season 1. Highly enjoyable. We didn't have super deluxe cable when it was on. I think it was on HBO? Correct me here if I'm wrong. We both recommend it.

We also watched 'A History of Violence' which was a completely awful crappy vomitous movie. I've realized that I just do not like Maria Bello. I heart Viggo, but even he was awful. From the nauseatingly overdone "we're such a loving family" scenes to the stupid plot to everyone eating up the scenery - it just sucked. I was making vomit faces and gagging noises and was mercilessly mocking the movie until Aaron suggested we just fast forward to see the ending. Completely predictable and gag-worthy.

Did I mention that we watched 'Walk the Line'? It was good. Real good.

Monday

What a weekend. Sophie is now talking non-stop. Apparently Aaron and I are very boring because all weekend, all we got from her was: "Blah, blah, blah". That's okay, it was adorable. We're trying to get her to move on to another sound but so far it's not working.

We went shopping on Saturday and Sophie was wonderful. Aaron strapped her into the Bjorn and away we went. She was fascinated with all the stores and was even very good when we stopped for lunch at Panera Bread. I ate first and then took Sophie so Aaron could eat. We didn't try to strap her into a chair and we didn't bring her seat, so we improvised. She's very grabby now and everything within her reach is extremely interesting and it looks so very yummy and if only she could just reach it and pull it into her mouth.

She also attracted several older ladies. Who all wanted to touch her. Which, okay, I get, she's adorable. But if you touch her hands, she's just going to put those hands into her mouth. They were just being nice and it's a natural instinct to want to have a baby grab your fingers. So, how do I nicely say - um, please don't do that - without sounding harsh? They were all very nice people. I think that is my problem. If they were freaky, I wouldn't have a problem telling them to back off.

Should I say: "Please don't touch her hands" - see, even that sounds a bit harsh. Help, please.

Sophie Saturday!

First up for Sophie Saturday - VIDEOS!!

Sophie, just yesterday, started really 'talking' to us. Lots of blah, blah, blah. We kept trying to get her to say "Bob Loblaw" but she didn't quite get it. Also? She's really into her toes.

Sophie at lunch time:

Sophie can eat her toes!

(Aaron is commenting that I didn't get the photo, but instead I got the video of the toe eating)

And if that isn't enough for you, we have photos.

Amy Chop requested Robot Sophie:

That was a hard one. Which you can probably see in Aaron's and Sophie's eyes.

My niece requested: "Sophie wearing a beautiful dress and yittle shoes. But no hat."

Snoozing on Daddy:

Still life with foot:

Simultaneously picking nose and getting zerberted by Daddy:

Holy Mother of God

A Pro-Life monument depicting Britney Spears giving birth.

Too bad she actually had a scheduled c-section. Early. Apparently because she was afraid of the pain of childbirth. Or at least that's what I've read. And not, as this monument would depict, natural birth on a bear rug.

"“Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston,” believed Pro-Life’s first monument to the ‘act of giving birth,’ is purportedly an idealized depiction of Britney in delivery. Natural aspects of Spears’ pregnancy, like lactiferous breasts and protruding naval, compliment a posterior view that depicts widened hips for birthing and reveals the crowning of baby Sean’s head."

Friday

As you've seen in the past, Aaron and I are not above dressing our little adorable baby up in all sorts of crazy outfits. And Sophie Saturday is tomorrow, so, we're now taking requests.

She's quite fascinated with her toes at the moment. I wish I was flexible enough to lick my own toes.

For the Record

Hello all you beautiful visitors from estella's site. I just want to go on record that I did not Paint estella's tattooed vagina. Nor would I get all snide about the fact that estella did not post those Paint pictures. Unless this is considered snide and to that I say: shut it. So there.

Just in case you really just want to see Painted tattooed vaginas.

ANTM

Auntie Em! Auntie Em!

Some random thoughts about last night's show:

Erika hates when Danielle talks about herself in the third person.

Kari's lips are enormous, Gina is a weird-talking freak and Jade needs to work on her eyebrows.

Runway class! and Danielle's near wipeout and crazy recovery was fantastic.

'Oh my god, it's Spain!' *squealing* Uh, nope you crazy women, it's giant hissing cockroaches. With rhinestones and leashes.

BTW, there was no reason for the roaches other than to simply freak the women out.

I did like the outfits and the crazy hair/makeup but c'mon. Would you even see the cockroaches in a real runway show?

Kari: "A hooker from old hooker times. You know."

Jade was quite ballsy with the roach kissing. And quite ruthless in her tormenting of Gina.

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Nicole's life as a Cover Girl. She gets to try on jeans and she's 'being considered' for an ad. Wow. Maybe I should try out for this show. It's so glamorous.
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The photoshoots are so random. Falling fairy tale characters?

I have no clue as to who won that one, but I did like Molly Sue's outfit the best.

Ooh, Vivienne Westwood. Oh, just her shoes. Jeezus. Someone's going to break an ankle! Yikes. Am I evil if I want Jade to fall?

Joanie keeps surprising me. She's pretty plain and almost invisible but she can really walk the runway and her photos always come out great.

Jeez, yes Danielle took a bad fall but she's on frickin' crutches for straining (sorry, spraining) her baby toe? Wimp.

and Kari is out.

I have to say, I'm a little surprised Furonda is still in. And Gina. I guess there's still time to weed them out.

I do love Nnenna, but I think this week I'm rooting for Joanie, the invisible.

Five Months!

Wow, where has the time gone?

Dearest Snopher:

You had a bit of a whirlwind visit from Grandma Sharon. Lots of snuggling and smooching and bundling up with extra socks and shirts and blankets and hats because I'm sure Sophie is cold, isn't she cold?

While you learned the raspberry last month, it was a bit short-lived. You totally moved on to bigger and better things. But now the raspberry has returned in all its drooly, bubbly gloriousness. You can add lots of sounds behind it and then you look at us to make sure we imitate you. You seems to find this very amusing and the game can go on for quite a while.

We waiting to give you solid foods until you hit at least 6 months (did you know that we could wait a full 9 months and you'd still be getting everything you need from breastmilk?). It is tempting to let you lick things we are eating because you are extremely expressive. You are grabbing at things we eat and drink now. The process of drinking water (by us) is also very fascinating. So I'll take a drink and then put the glass near your mouth and you'll open up and lick it. But I have to make sure not to get any actual water in your mouth because horrors! what is that disgusting texture! and then you let it dribble out of your mouth. Same thing with breastmilk in a cup.

We are trying to be better about eating at the dining table as opposed to sitting on the couch (it's a bad habit from the small apartment days where we didn't have room for a table) so that you can sit in your highchair and watch us eat. We give you a rubber spoon and a bowl and a cup and you play with these. The spoon is especially entertaining. Although you are not very exact with your movements and have gagged yourself and poked yourself in the eye several times. Okay, more than several times.

Otto is the love of your life. He will only get close enough so that you can't reach him. Tabitha has started to warm up to you but you keep thwarting her advances by getting so excited that There! Is! Another! Kitty! that you shriek to say hello and *poof* there is just a pile of fur where Tabitha was sitting.

Last night and then again this morning you gave me the most wonderful present in the entire world: a hug. You reached out your arms and I picked you up and you actually, for honest, hugged me.

Sophie, we adore you.

The Next Superhero?!!!!!!!

This show sounds like it will be comedy gold:

"All you'll need is an original idea for a Superhero, a killer costume, and some real Superhero mojo. The winner will walk away with their Superhero immortalized in a new comic book created by Stan Lee himself. The winning character will also appear in an original Sci Fi Channel movie!

In nationwide open casting calls, potential heroes will arrive in costume to prove their mettle – revealing the true nature of their superhuman abilities and invoking the noble credos by which they live. From these thousands of hopefuls, Stan Lee will choose 11 lucky finalists to move into a secret lair and compete for the opportunity to become a real-life Superhero!

Finalists will leave their former lives behind and live as their brainchild heroes 24/7, all under Stan Lee's watchful eye. Each week, our aspiring heroes will be challenged with competitions designed to test their true Superhero abilities."

Busy, busy

Aaron's mom flies back to sunny CA this afternoon. I've taken part of the afternoon off from work so that Aaron can take the car. No sense making Sophie ride in the dreaded car seat for 2 hours.

It has been nice having a grandmother around. Aaron seems more relaxed and Sharon has been doing a lot of cooking/fridge re-stocking. It's a little strange to have a full fridge. Aaron and I tend to go grocery shopping at least once a week and we don't tend to have a lot of leftovers. I also tend to write tend a lot.

Sophie's been great with Sharon despite the frantic chewing and drooling on everything. If that stupid toofer doesn't poke through by the end of the week, she's going to become a berserker. She's also eating less than normal because of her one-track-this-toofer-is-annoying mind.

I've been busy at work as well. We are in the midst of budget-planning for my department. And by 'we', I mean 'me'. I had my budget presentation yesterday and it went well. It's just a lot of preparation and number crunching. And printing and paperclipping and then finding a mistake and re-printing and collating and copying and paperclipping... Also, I'm in my new 'office' and now I have space to file everything but I haven't had the chance to go through the boxes. You may ask: but you have time to type this, don't you? To that I say: shut it.

Weekend Recap

I'm loving the new haircut. Although, it had become such a habit to pull it back into ponytail before I picked up Sophie, now I have to stop myself from running my hands through my hair. My brain synapses are working overtime at the moment with all the retraining. First I get a tooth put in so I don't have to remember to put the flipper all the time (and I don't have to remember to take it out before eating). And now my unconscious hair motions are all going to have to be rewired.

Anyhoo, Sophie has forged a hesitant alliance with Grandma Sharon and Aaron and I managed to sneak out yesterday afternoon to see 'Brokeback Mountain'. Which we both really liked. Heath Ledger was fantastic. We also received 'Mad Hot Ballroom' from Netflix. That was SO GOOD. I highly recommend it. Very charming. One of the little kids looks EXACTLY like a pre-teen Bob Dylan. I mean, exactly. The winning team was really, really good. (thanks to the Mincemeat Vixen for the recommendation). I just watched the trailer again and I'm beaming. It's that good. Good for the whole family.

And finally, the funniest thing I have ever seen.

Chipmunk!

Photo courtesy of my brother. From almost a month ago. Click on the photo for more. ;)

Sophie Saturday!

At long last.

First off, Aaron's mom's flight arrived about 9pm last night. And it takes about an hour to get here from the airport (Aaron drove to pick her up). So, Sophie was already asleep. When Snophs woke up around 10:30, we briefly brought her downstairs to meet her Grandma Sharon.

And then today included my big hair cut (scroll down for the evidence) as well as a drive up to my parents' house for lunch and dessert.

I think the Grandmas might be in love:

But wait, you say, I'm here for my Snopher fix!

Okay, fine. Patience is a virtue, you know. Maybe you should think about being more virtuous. For once.

Alright, one more.

Okay, are you all set for a bit? Excellent. Now, here's the hair:

6 ponytails of curly goodness. To be mailed off on Monday to Locks of Love.

More photos, including the new haircut.

Visit from Grandma

Aaron's mom is flying in today from sunny CA. She'll be here through Tuesday to meet and snuggle with the Snopher. So, Sophie Saturday photos will probably include some Grandma lovin'. Tomorrow is also my big hair cut. If I don't lose at least a pound from all this hair, I'm going to eat a donut in protest.

Actually, I am trying to lose weight so I avoided the Dunkin' Donuts some evil person brought in today. Yes, I know I shouldn't diet while I'm nursing. Is skipping the 40 pounds of chocolate and donuts and sweets I normally eat a diet? I think not. Also? I'm trying to start up with the exercising again. They just got a new elliptical trainer in our work gym (i.e.: a little closet jammed with equipment) and I've used it once so far. Ha! That is my exercise program so far.

Tomorrow is also a visit up to my mom and dad's house with Aaron's mom. So double the Grandma snuggles for Sophie! Maybe a Grandp snuggle if he's in the mood.

It's a bit chilly out here at the moment, so hopefully it won't be too much of a shock.

As always, I'm taking requests for Sophie Saturday. Yes, Sophie is going to kill me later for all of this.

Making me giggle

I'm finding the reports of Ambien causing night eating quite amusing.

"The sleeping pill Ambien seems to unlock a primitive desire to eat in some patients, according to emerging medical case studies that describe how the drug's users sometimes sleepwalk into their kitchens, claw through their refrigerators like animals and consume calories ranging into the thousands."

I think they estimate about 2.6 million people take Ambien. So every night, there is a large number of people ripping apart their kitchens and eating everything in site. I just keep imagining zombies.

One more anecdote: "Another woman in a full body cast managed to sleepwalk to the kitchen, where she was found at various times frying bacon and eggs, lighting the oven, or eating a sandwich."

Hair today

Seconds after this photo was taken, I pulled all 40 pounds of it back into a bun.

If you click on that photo, you will see my face. In all its double-chinny goodness. I didn't want to post that photo here because it might scare all the little children who read my site.

ANTM

This will be quick because I don't really know the women's names yet. But Naima? What is with the sideburns? And her dress made her look enormous. She looked awful. How did she win again?

Jade is quite crazy and has pretty bad skin (i.e.: acne) to be so full of herself.

And Kari - the little blond one? Has a crazy Joker mouth.

My personal favorite right now is Nnenna.

That is all I've got - your thoughts?

Abu Ghraib

Salon.com has released the Abu Ghraib photos. I have no words.

"279 photographs and 19 videos from the Army's internal investigation record a harrowing three months of detainee abuse inside the notorious prison -- and make clear that many of those responsible have yet to be held accountable."

Woot!

Thank goodness for hot showers and pins soaked in rubbing alcohol. The nipple levee broke and there is no way we could have predicted it. I was in the shower all excited because: ah, relief, and then Aaron came in to see if I had unleashed the hounds and I was showing him how far I could squirt milk and then I turned and tried to dowse him with it. He laughed and ran away. Fun with lactation!

Anyhoo, that was probably too much information and I probably should have warned you ahead of time.

As I headed outside to drive back to work, there was a beautiful cardinal in a tree and it, um, whistled (?) at me. Or, I'd like to think it was at me. Twice. Toot! Toot! So I whistled back. Twice. And then it sang (? - what word am I looking for here?) back at me, three times. So I whistled three times. And then it whistled back at me four times. So I whistled at it four times. And THEN? Yep, you guessed it, it whistled at me FIVE times. And I said: 'fuck this shit, I'm not getting into a whistle contest with a stupid cardinal'.

Just in case

What to do if your eyeball pops out.

As the Duct Clogs

So, more clogging. Same stupid duct. For those of you interested, here is my resource on how to resolve this. I love that site.

I *was* going to work out after work and take just a quick lunch, but now it looks like I might head home at lunch to work on this. And if I take a longer lunch, I won't have enough time to work out and be with my beautiful baby before she's ready to go to bed. That is, unless I can resolve the plugging before lunch.

Anyhoo, stamp night was fun last night. We made marble magnets and ended up all getting a bit high from the glue fumes. Lots of giggling and silliness. Also some excellent food because we were at J's house and she is a master cook. I ate way too many cookies and she had the yummiest quiche ever AND chocolate covered strawberries. I think all of our hubbies are excited when stamp night is at J's because we bring home some yummy goodies.

In other news, I'm coveting these shorts and this blazer for Sophie. She'd be like a preppy Angus Young.

Monday

This weekend was spent cleaning and clogged duct un-clogging. Also we went on a couple of long walks since it was in the high 50s on both days. Sophie loves to be outdoors. Or, at least, she loves to sleep in the stroller outdoors.

Back to the clogged ducts. That would be mine. It started on Friday and I spent all day Saturday working on unclogging things. Not fun, not pretty. And now I'm pretty sore. But unclogged. I won't bore you with the gory details, so let's just say it involved hot showers, lots of massage and some pumping. Yeah, that sounds like a better synopsis.

The cleaning was because 1. our house needed it and 2. because Aaron's mom is coming to visit and we had to get the guest room straightened up.

And finally, tonight is stamp night and we are going to make marble magnets! I've made some before and they are easy and fun and useful. I'll try to remember to take photos.

Sophie Saturday!

First off, let's take care of the request:

From K: "Hmmmm... maybe a little bone in her tuft of hair, ala Pebbles? ;)" (outfit also courtesy of estella)

AND, handmade outfits from the baby stalker herself, estella.

Yes, that says "Snopher" and it's covered in chocolate.

The back says: "Please Don't Eat Me":

And, presenting the new Elton John sunglasses courtesy of her daddy:

As always, there are more if you click on any of those photos.

Wait, now it's Friday?

So, after all my moaning, I got my urgent stuff done this morning in record time and now I'm sitting, twiddling my thumbs until they finish putting my desk together. Someone cleared out one of my desks already and so everything is sitting off in a dark, dirty corner until I can start to sort through it. Yay! My favorite!

There are lots of people hovering around and moving things and my new desk is pretty smelly - like new paint and fake wood and varnish. It definitely needs to air out a bit.

I've scheduled the big hair removal appointment for next weekend. 10+ inches are coming off! Woo! Let's hope I don't have the same stylist as estella.

I'll make sure to take before/after photos. See? I'm doing what I said I should never do again. I'm going from really long to short. Again. But this time will be different! I know it!

Friday

This week was all screwed up for me. I took Monday off and then thought Tuesday was Wednesday and Thursday was Friday and now I'm sitting here when I should be going to bed but, c'mon, is it really Friday tomorrow? Again?

I'm very busy at work at the moment. With actual work. I know. And it's not enough for me to be busy and pulled in many different opposing directions, but they are also, finally, moving me to my new space. I say moving me because it is going to take a lot of effort tomorrow to try to keep people at bay and leave my stuff alone until I can finish up my projects. Do you know how annoying it is when people try to help? 'where does this go?' 'what is this?' 'you want to keep this?' - instead of just leaving me alone and leaving my things alone until I can do it myself. You are not helping, you are annoying. Part of the problem is that I'm currently taking up two tiny 1/2 cubicle areas instead of one because that is the nature of marketing - we have a lot of stuff. Like samples and artwork and books and shit. But now two engineers are moving upstairs and one of them needs one of my tiny 1/2 cubicles. Tomorrow, all of a sudden.

However, my new desk just arrived and maintenance still needs to put it together. So hopefully that will just keep people away from me for a while in the morning so I can finish my projects in peace.

In other news - Aaron bought Sophie some sunglasses. Oh yeah, Sophie Saturday is going to have sunglasses. Any other requests?

So Tired

Sophie woke up at 3:30 this morning. Wide awake and squirming. With a nose whistle that sounded like a little baby seagull was trapped inside her head. She'd get excited and that little baby seagull would get loud and frantic and then she'd calm down and I could almost imagine being on the beach with the sun and the sand and a little baby seagull off in the distance and then WHOMP! a foot in my belly or a scratchy little hand playing with my nose. At one point, Aaron was snoring and not realizing that she was AWAKE, so I rolled her over to him so that she and her little baby seagull could whomp him awake as well.

She finally fell back asleep around 5:30 and the alarm went off at 5:45.

If you're looking for me later? I'm the one asleep under my desk.

Yes, we tried putting her back in the Pack-n-play. No, she didn't like that one bit. No, we are not spoiling her. So just shut it.

Well, that settles it

I had completely forgotten about the toxic poop once you introduce solids. That alone settles it for me. Not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent.

The plan is to wait until she hits 6 months. In the meantime, we are giving her a spoon and a cup and maybe a plate to play with when we sit down to dinner. Maybe some breastmilk in the cup. Or maybe some water. Just so she has something. She is definitely interested in what we are doing so this will be her introduction.

I also found some good advice on Kelly Mom regarding introducing solids. I love that website.

Another update

So, about 1/2 an hour after that last post, the Tylenol wore off. Poor Sophie. Slightly feverish, miserable, sore, cranky. Aaron had some errands to run on campus and Sophie and I just tried to make it through the day as comfortable as possible. This involved me carrying her around for about 6 hours while she alternately whined, squirmed, sweat and slept. I finally ended up taking off my shirt and leaving on my bra and she stayed in just her diaper. I had a blanket around her for most of the time. But that made it a lot easier when she got too hot - I would just drop the blanket for a bit. It was a rough day but it was also rewarding. She was VERY snuggly and when she woke up from a snooze, she'd be quite affectionate and want to curl in with me on the bed or on her blanket on the floor and we'd chat and I'd smooch her everywhere that hurt.

Poor little thing. I'm so happy I decided to take the day off. I promised her that I would always be there for her when she was sick.

4 Month Appt Update

Well, they gave her a little bit of Tylenol before the shots so she's doing fine so far. We'll see when it wears off. She handled the shots like any of us would, but she calmed down pretty quickly and fell asleep in the car home.

So, as far as the vital stats:

16 pounds, 12 ounces (95%)
26.5 inches (95%)
Head circumference: 43 centimenters (90%)

Remember last time when Aaron said that her head was in the 40th percentile? And I talked about her having a pin-head? Well, he was incorrect. Her head was 40 CENTIMETERS and she was in the 90th percentile.

Yes, Virginia, we're growing a big-un.

The pediatrician said we could consider introducing solid foods because she's doubled her birth weight and she's showing interest. But La Leche League and others say to wait until 6 months if the baby is exclusively breastfed. I think we are going to wait a bit. I'd rather wait until her digestive system can handle it better.

Love

Awwww. Sophie is just the cutest little girl. We went up to my parents' house on Saturday to celebrate my dad's and my grandmother's birthdays (she had him on her birthday). Also for some more face-to-face with Sophie's cousin. Who promptly growled at her as soon as he saw her. Exactly like their cranky cat. It was pretty funny. She's still pretty scary to him, but hopefully he'll get used to her. My mom also gave us an exersaucer from one of her neighbors and Sophie loved it. She's just able to hold herself up, so this will be another thing to keep her occupied once in a while.

We went into town today for a longer walk, rented some movies, Aaron got some coffee and then headed home. We started to watch 'Walk the Line' - very good - but then Sophie started to get cranky and I started the long process of getting her to go to bed. She's been running a low-grade fever and we're thinking it might be because she's trying to get those annoying teefers to pop.

We have her 4 month doctor's check-up tomorrow morning and so we'll have to ask him then. She's always pretty warm, running about a half-degree higher than average, but this was about 99.4. I'm taking tomorrow off because last time she had her vaccinations, she had a miserable day and it was great to be able to be home to comfort her.

You'll all be happy to know that I took down the Christmas tree today. I'm a little bit sad and now the room looks empty and less cheerful. I'm going to have to think of something to fill the space.

Sophie Saturday!

This one is for Amy Chop:

a behind-the-head look of how we created the look:

Caught in the act! Of sleeping exactly like her daddy.

And this one is for Andrea. Not so much a belly photo, but look at the legs! and the arms! This outfit is from the March coloriffic swap-o-rama! I got my package for Portugal already!

Now taking requests

I already have some adorable sleeping baby photos to post tomorrow. And we're going to do a photo shoot tonight. So, any requests?

We haven't put her in a dress in a while (have you ever tried to carry a baby in a dress? It always ends up around her neck), so maybe we'll do that.

Elizabethtown

What a rotten movie. Ugh. Why did I just waste two hours of my life on that dreg? I spent the whole time trying to place Orlando's voice because he sounded like someone else. I finally figured out that if you close your eyes when he's talking? It's Rob Lowe. Also? He was not at ALL the right person for that role. I should actually have listened to Aaron on this one. What a waste of a Netflix movie. I finally got up once I figured out the voice. I'd tell you to check it out just to prove that they have the same voice, but don't waste your time.

Damn Teef

I'm about ready to yank this stupid implant right out of my mouth. Because it feels like I already did. This morning was the 'let's kick Erika in the face over and over and oh yeah, put in a temporary tooth so she doesn't have to wear the flipper'. I think I had like 8 or 9 shots of novocaine because there was some wiley nerve that just wouldn't get numb. So a big shot in the roof of my mouth and then SHOOTING PAIN when he touched the tissue inside of the implant. AAAGH! So I got another shot and then SHOOTING PAIN! and then another shot until my brain was numb and I was speaking in drooly tongues. I'm so tired of this. Hopefully this is almost done. This temporary stays in there for a couple of months so that the tissues can heal again and so that they can make a fancy new tooth with fake gum tissue and everything.

Sophie and Aaron came with me because Aaron's going a bit stir crazy with all the staying indoors because it is so cold outside. And then it was a LONG appointment because they decided they were going to fill everyone in the 50 mile radius('s) cavities all on the same day and all at the same time. AND THEN Aaron dropped me off at work so we could bring in Sophie for people to 'ooh' and 'aah' over. She handled all of it really well considering she hadn't eaten in 3 hours and was getting a little cranky. The general consensus is that she is really frickin' adorable and ginormous.

Which is all lovely and everything but hello? Erika got kicked in the face? Over here? Oh right, cute baby overload.