Recognize this guy? 

Baby Dave picture. We're starting to see some serious resemblance here. 

This is what I do, all day long. Play standing up at my food-themed play table. I have a bright future in the food service industry. 

No one stops me from getting to this table! 

I have found a new use for my pacifier- teething ring!! 

Famous Daniel

Daniel's big outing on Monday night has been reported in another world famous blog. See a cute picture of him here.

Randoms

We went to see this movie on Saturday- our first time in a movie theater since July 2004. Pretty good flick. More exciting was to not have a background soundtrack of baby noises while we were watching it.

Daniel's sixth tooth is coming in. Not sure if this is related, but he has woken up and driven us nuts the last two nights for a few hours. We are back into sleep deprivation mode....Agh!!

I found a great babysitter for the summer so I can continue working part time. I spread the word via email and tapped into the great motherlode of babysitting contacts. I even found "The One"- the most popular babysitter in church that everyone uses. Of course, she's booked through the rest of the year, but it was nice to meet her.

We have a "celebration dinner" tonight with Dave's firm with everyone who passed their architecture licensure test last year and is getting promoted this year. It's at the Nashville City Club. yum, yum. We're 99% sure Dave is not getting promoted this year, but he is out of town a lot and might have missed out on some key information. Many thanks to P&L for providing babysitting tonight.

Commuting Fun

Seen this morning on the interstate while stuck in traffic:

A well-worn late 80's Chrysler Le Baron with a Dodge bumper sticker: "Yea, it's got a HEMI".

I really miss carpooling with Dave- it would have made his day to see that.

"Yard Sale-ing"

I never desired to take part in the great yard sale hunt until Daniel came along. Now I have all these things we want for Daniel with limited funds due to reduced income. Fortunately, it's that most wonderful bargain time of the year. The last two weekends, I have picked up: A size 2T wardrobe for next year, a wooden rocking horse, a small car to ride/push, 2 FREE tricycles (set out for trash), numerous toys for when Daniel is a little older, 2 umbrella strollers (I'm still looking for a double stoller if anyone sees one- just to have- I don't need it yet!).
This weekend we were delivering a meal to a couple in our community group who just had a baby and we spied a yard sale cleanup in progress- markdown madness! We bought a double bike trailer (you attach to the back of your bike and haul the kids around). We might have gotten a little carried away.... we don't even own any bikes (yet) : )

Rubber Ducky, you're the one :)  

Now look what I can do- mommy and daddy are in trouble! 

Today's the Day...

Daniel started crawling, with arms and legs moving and tummy off the ground. Watch out world!!

New Curtain! 

Our new curtains! 

New Years Resolutions

I had two New Years Resolutions for 2005: 1) Work on curtains for our house and 2) get my hair highlighted. Last year my goals were 1) to plan and adjust the timeline for a $300M Budget process and 2) have a baby, but I've had to scale back this year for obvious reasons.
I'm pleased to say I have made some significant progress my first goal. We have purchased dining room curtains and I just completed our kitchen curtains last night. Yes, I made them myself. Without a pattern (although I did find some help on the internet). I'm not a complete novice- I do own a sewing machine and I did take sewing for a year in high school. I have Mrs. Betty Maddox to acknowledge for my training (incidently, she was also my first grade Sunday school teacher who helped me learn the books of the Bible). I'll post some pictures of my new curtains later tonight.
Now if I could just get my hair stylist to agree to do some highlighting before I change my mind. I have a hair appointment April 28th, keep your fingers crossed!

Helping mommy get that last tax return done today! 

Neighborhood Watch 

Neighborhood Watch

Yes, the picture above is of the house next door. Often, we wonder:

• Are they running a used car lot?
• Are they running a Bed & Breakfast?
• Are they running a pizza delivery service?

Soon they'll probably be running from us, since I complained to the Homeowners Association again this week and they're getting another letter from the neighborhood's attorney.

At least they don't block our driveway (since it is on a back alley) like our last neighbors, who had five cars. And we thought like the Jeffersons, we were movin' on up.

I am a Promise, I'm a Possibility....

Amazing to me, but pieces of Daniel's personality are emerging at seven months:

• Daniel knows to smile for the camera even when I don't coax him by smiling myself.
• He can shake his head "no"- imitating one of us, or sometimes he just does it on his own. Thank goodness he doesn't know what it means yet!
• Last night I left the room for a minute and I heard a "whoosh". Daniel had wiggled back into a corner and pulled over an artificial tree (not heavy, it would not have hurt him, but it is about 4 feet tall!).
• Daniel is already interested in driving with a steering wheel-type toy he has (he is such a daddy's boy) and he uses the wheel to try to stand up.
• He clearly is more interested in men than women (even my babysitter's husband notices the preference towards him)
• He constantly turns his head and upper body horizontal, as if to get a different point of view, sort of like an artist when he's painting a picture. It's really annoying when he does this in the Johnny Jumper and gets stuck sideways!
• Daniel does not like fruit at all, even though I ate tons of it while I was pregnant.
• I predict he is going to be an ENTJ (maybe an ENTP), a good mix of mommy (ESFJ) and daddy (INTP). Yes, we're complete opposites (Myers-Briggs).

Anyone get the title? I'll be impressed if you get the flashback : )

What We're Reading/Watching/Listening to These Days....

Reading:
Chris - "The Millionaire Women Next Door" by Thomas Stanley- interesting stats on self-made women millionaires (who are small business owners).
Dave- "War and Rembrance" by Herman Wouk. It all started when Dave found an old "Winds of War" paperback of mine, and now he's hooked on the saga. Next up: the DVDs.
Daniel- Anything Peter Rabbit, Baby Einstein, or made of cloth and chewable.

Watching:
C&D: We tape (yes, we are still too cheap for Tivo):

• West Wing (does anyone not think Santos is going to win, come on?!)
• Law & Order (just the regular and Trial by Jury)
• The Apprentice (I'm rooting for Bryn or Kendra. Dave says the candidate pool for season #2 and this one have been poor. We think the best candidates probably aren't reality-tv material and don't want the job anyway).

We watch Raymond and Less than Perfect if we catch them.

Daniel: "Praise Baby II- God of Wonders"- like Baby Einstein with praise music. He loves it and there are some kids from our church in it.

Listening to:
We just bought Chris Tomlin's "Arriving". Awesome worship cd.
We were very disappointed in Steven Curtis Chapmans's latest, "All Things New", anyone else?
A pretty recent favorite is Selah's "Hiding Place". Excellent mix of some old and new stuff.

Now, if you've been paying attention here, you've noticed I don't have any movies listed. This is because 1) we haven't seen any movies in a theater since July 2004 and 2) I can't remember the last time we had a two hour block of free time at home together when sleep wasn't priority # 1...but don't feel sorry for us, we're having a blast!!