Tonight I discovered that one of the neighborhood cats has sprayed all over the plastic bathtub. (We have been keeping it out on the deck) Fantastic. I discovered this when I brought it in and filled it with hot water in the sink and the whole kitchen smelled of steamy, destinctively feline piss. The cats were totally spooked out. I guess so much for that one. Oh well, she had just about outgrown it anyway.

Today Kristin from daycare had to take her daughter to the dentist, so I had to get Bean at 12:30. Of course, I figure this out on the phone with marc while I am sitting in trafffic on the DC beltway at 9:00... I got to the jobsite, dropped off paint, worked for a half an hour, and drove back to Baltimore. Despite the hectic morning, Bean and I had a nice afternoon... it was sunny for a change and not quite so cold, so we went for a nice long walk. It felt like when I wasn't working all summer.. God I miss that!!! She was really happy today and we had fun.

Olive has been pretty good the last few nights. Earlier this week she had a cold and made our lives miserable. When she gets that congested, she wakes herself up all the time. I was trying to explain it to people at work who don't have kids; the best way I could describe it is as if the snooze alarm goes off every 40 minutes all night long, only you have to get up and go in to another room to turn it off. Combine that with meeting the carpool to DC at 5:30am, and you have a recipe for one bitchy zombie by Wednesday. So, I'm glad she's feeling better.

Marc had band practice Thursday night, so it was just me and Bean. It was really fun actually. I finally started to see that it can be fun... I know that sounds weird. But sometimes it seems like I'm checking off a list of a series of chores; bath, change into jammies, bottle, etc etc. all in order to get her to go to sleep so I can relax (ie. collapse in a heap) or do something else. Like load the dishwasher. But Thursday was really fun; she had dinner, we took a bath and played with bubbles, we read some books, spent some time in the bouncy seat laughing. It was great. We had some nice "quality time" when I was putting her to sleep. There's just no way to describe how I feel when she's looking into my eyes as she falls asleep. And that helps me a lot; I've really struggled with feeling guilty about being a little bit emotionally distant. You feel like you're a terrible person if you aren't pining away every moment of the day that your baby is in daycare and counting the minutes until you can get home again. (I blame advertising!) Don't get me wrong, I'm always excited and happy to see her when I pick her up; but I am confident that she's happy and safe and I don't worry about her all day. So yeah, I'm starting to feel like maybe I'm not so bad at this after all. She is awesome.

Well; It's January 13th already. Happy New Year everyone. The holidays were crazy. I can't believe we're halfway through January. Olive will be 8 months old on the 21st!

Olive has been up to new stuff lately; She now sits up on her own. She's mastered rolling over, but can't quite sit up from lying down yet. I think she's going to be one of those walk before you crawl types; She doesn't show any interest in crawling yet really, but she always wants to stand up, and can stand for several minutes without any problems. I don't think it has occurred to her yet to take a step forward. She's making some more noises, "Ma Ma Ma" mostly. That is sort of the universal distress call for when she's scared or tired or frustrated with something. It isn't directed at "me" per se, its more like "I need help!" I have been thinking about trying some basic sign language and seeing if that works; some of the Moms swear by it. It's "food" and "more" that are apparently the most effective, go figure. She's on mostly formula at this point, she still gets a little breastmilk every day, but for various reasons, (work, daycare, stress, hormones) we are gradually weaning her off of it. I had originally planned on trying to make it to one year, but my job intervened. I think if I were home with her it would be easier, but it was kind of the beginning of the end when she started daycare. I am still feeling a little guilty, but I am trying not to beat myself up about it too much. The "natural" parenting gurus would be horrified, but it just wasn't working for me anymore. And if I've learned anything throughout this process, it's that you just gotta go with what works.

We went to Ithaca after Christmas to visit my family; My aunts were all fighting over Olive. I am posting the picture of Bean being held by Carol with Mary and my mom in the background. My uncle Andy, who is a great photographer, got some great shots of the family and I want tomake sure he gets due credit for the great photos! I love the picture of her standing with that grin on her face. She sooo looks like she's up to something, doesn't she? She looks like her father there. It was great to see everyone, some of my relatives had never met her, so it was fun. Grandma got her all kinds of new toys to play with.

Speaking of new toys, grandma also got Mommy a new sewing machine which I am so excited about. I took a sewing machine basics class last weekend and I may take some sewing classes this spring. I'm mostly into making quilts and toys for her, but I wouldn't mind learnign how to sew from a pattern. We'll see. I have also been feeling the creative pull of sculpture and painting again, and I'd like to pursue it if I can. I have a few ideas rolling around in my head. I just have to make time for that stuff. It's just so important. I truly believe that creativity is what keeps you young.

I have another busy week coming up, I will be in Annapolis. Work was slow there for awhile but seems to be picking up again. It's definitely exhausting. Just when you think, "Oh it's the weekend and I can sleep in." Wrong. I woke up this morning at 7:30 to a big gummy grin in my face. Very cute. Very early, but very cute. It's harder to get little things done around the house, like posting blogs and photos, let alone laundry and dishes. But in general, I think we are adapting pretty well.

Anyway, I am trying to post a little more frequently, so we'll see how my resolution holds up.