Saturday, December 31, 2005

Fridge cleaned.
Check.
Shortbread made for NYE party tonight.
Check.
Christmas tree and decorations put away.
Check.
Living room dusted and vacuumed for NYE party tonight.
Check.
Meatballs made for in-law Christmas gathering tomorrow.
Check.
Potatoes baked for potato skins tonight.
Check.
Bathroom cleaned.
Check.
Quiche made for brunch...

Half a dozen eggs spilled on kitchen floor, husband frantically called on cell phone to pick up more eggs for quiche.
Check.

Sigh.
And here the day was going so well.

Friday, December 30, 2005

Christmas memories and Blogger issues.




Okay, so, I've been trying to work on this blog for about an hour now and I'm more than a tad frustrated. Can't seem to insert more than one photo and insert text in the way I'd like so I'm giving up and going to bed. I'll just have to post a few entries at once. Some days Blogger just gives me more grief than I can handle.

First shot: Happy to be home after a busy, busy day.
Second shot: Getting a tad messy helping me make a present for her dad.

A few Christmas memories.



My very favorite Christmas photo.

Asleep in Dad's arms on Christmas morning.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

It's good to be back.

Just sitting here at the computer with my lovely daughter sprawled on my lap fast asleep. Thinking back a little. So glad to know that it WASN'T just me. No longer whining, that's for sure. 'Cause THIS I'm loving. I'm coming out and calling it by name officially now. There IS such a thing as prenatal depression and I had it in spades. As my dear husband said the other day "It's good to have you back". It's good to be back. SO good. I feel like the old Cynthia again.

Except now I have a baby asleep on my lap. :-)

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Merry Christmas!

Taking a cue from my sister-in-law: 10 years ago today (or tomorrow, can't quite remember which) I spent the night with my niece (her daughter) sleeping on my chest.

And tonight, I could do the same thing with my own daughter just one month younger (to the day) than her daughter was that Christmas so many years ago.

Smile.

Happy first Christmas, Abigail!

Thursday, December 22, 2005

The Date


Dinner? Lovely.

The concert? A delight.

Hanging out with my husband for the evening? Wonderful.

Picking up our daughter again? Splendid.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Tiny Rant

I really don't like it when someone wishes me "Happy Holidays". It grates on my nerves. It's just all together too politically correct for me. And, I just assume that said customer service rep was requested to do so by his/her superiors and that grates on my nerves too - the thought of someone instructing someone else on how they should greet someone.

I understand that I'm Christian and therefore perhaps do not "get" how it must feel to be wished "Merry Christmas" when I don't celebrate the event. But know what? Call me callous but I don't CARE. We (even though it may not seem that way sometimes) are a country founded on Christianity and that therefore, includes Christmas. If I were visiting or living in another country I wouldn't be offended if they wished me "Happy Hanukkah" or such.

Thanks, done now.

Monday, December 19, 2005

Wherein my extreme stubbornness shows its ugly head.

The jeans. The pre-pregnancy jeans. They're on! They're staying on! I may be sorry that I'm going out with them on when halfway through the evening with the girls the button shoots across the room or imbeds itself into my stomach but for now I'm too busy being happy to think on that possibility too much.

I'm not saying I look good in them or anything. I'm just happy I could pull them on and do up the zipper.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Thursday Thirteen

I've decided to join the Thursday Thirteen blogroll for today at least.

1. Just a little FYI: Spray 'n Wash works better than Shout on baby poop stains.
2. I have an annoying sore on my tongue. It's probably God’s way of trying to tell me to eat less potato chips.
3. I'm so glad I don't have to drive anywhere today. Apparently the roads are nutty out there.
4. I'm giddy about going out on Saturday. I've expressed enough milk so that I can go out with my friends and not have to feel pressured to rush home. It will be like the old days for a few moments.
5. I LOVE the busyness of this season. Getting together with friends is one of my favorite things to do. Tonight we're seeing friends that we haven’t seen since Abby was born. Hurray!
6. I have about 3 phone calls I need to make today. Yuck! They're all business-like calls. Have I mentioned before how much I hate the phone?
7. Maybe today I'll get the energy/desire to write out Abby's birth story. I wasn't going to do it but 2 people have requested that I put it on my blog so perhaps I will.
8. Yesterday my mom and I got together with the intentions of cooking for Christmas. Yeah, first was coffee and cinnamon buns. Next came sitting on the couch and visiting. Then we finally got around to making cabbage rolls. Although, I believe my mom got one made before she "needed" to go hold Abby. Then was lunch… You get the picture. Don’t get me wrong, I am THRILLED that my mom loves holding my baby nearly as much as I do.
9. This weekend (I believe) my brother and his family start heading home for Christmas. I am so looking forward to seeing him again and having him see Abby for the first time.
10. I desperately need a haircut. But, I keep wanting to hold off until after Christmas. More important things to spend money on right now.
11. We are having Abby's baby dedication on Christmas Day. This feels special for a whole bunch of reasons including: (1) It means most of my family will be there for it. (2) It's my birthday. (3) Dedicating myself and my child to God on the day we celebrate Jesus' birthday just seems right.
12. Next week J-L and I get to go on a Real Live Date. I know some of you are thinking that shouldn't seem that unusual as we're still new parents. Weird thing is, it's VERY unusual. We barely dated at all in our entire relationship. We fell into a natural/comfortable relationship very early on and rarely had traditional dates. I think by the second week of our relationship our idea of a date was him helping me clean my place before company showed up. :-)
13. I still haven't come up with any great ideas of what J-L should buy me for my birthday. I'm hoping he comes up with something all on his own.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Ahh.

Our daughter slept for 7 hours straight last night.

7 HOURS!

Seriously, she is a keeper.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

2004

Friday, December 09, 2005

Guesses

For the most part
I think this stage
Is the easiest
I don’t have to think of what to feed her for dinner
I don’t have to entertain her
I don’t have to deal with attitude
Or peer pressure
But then come those times
When she won’t stop crying
Shrieking
Wailing
And I don’t know what to do
Is she hungry?
Is she tired?
Is she wet?
Does she need to be on her back?
Does she need to be burped?
Does she need to be cuddled?
All just guesses
And I find myself
On the rocking chair
Patting
Rocking
Praying
Singing
"They that Wait Upon the Lord"
Over and over
And she stops
And she falls asleep
And I feel like a superhero
And completely humbled
All at the same time
And in the end
It’s all just guesses

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Two of many.

Earlier this week I joined my husband on the road for an overnight road trip. From my point of view we had a lovely time. Mostly it was just the three of us driving and hanging out together. For a traveler such as myself it was LOVELY to see a new part of the world after being cooped up for nearly a month. To be on the road again. And thankfully, thus far, our daughter is a JOY to travel with. I hope that continues. It occurred to me though, while we were on the road, how different my daughter's childhood will be from mine. Two things from this trip alone:

1) She has been in another province.
2) She has stayed in a hotel room.

I can't remember when I accomplished both of those items (sorry Dwight, I don't have your memory for that sort of thing) but it was CERTAINLY not at one month of age. I'm happy to give her these experiences. I just hope she develops a love for it in the future and doesn't just take it for granted. I have a small fear that the reason all 4 of us Plett children love to travel so much is that we never got to as kids. Can our children love it quite as much as we do since most of them have seen more before the age of 10 than their parents did before the age of 20?

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Performance Review

Abigail, you have been a part of the PL organization for a month now and the management feels it's time to undergo a review. Please feel free to comment at any time during this discussion.

This is broken down into 5 sections.

Accomplishments
It is a little hard to evaluate your accomplishments at this point. We recognize that you are still in training and this will come up more later on in your time here. We just wanted to make you aware of our desire that you keep track of your accomplishments during the year so that we can review them and discuss them at your annual review.


Relationships
This is an area you have developed remarkably well in a short amount of time. Both the assistant manager and myself marvel at how quickly we've developed a strong affection for you as you are very easy to like. The one area you may wish to work on though, is in your late night activities. We both feel that there is a direct correlation between the amount of late night activity and strains in the relationships.


Dependability
This is an area you excel at. You are both dependable in your timeliness and in your habits. The one area of dependability that doesn't necessarily coincide with our organization's principles is the habit of vomiting. I wasn't sure how to state that discreetly so I chose just to face it head on. You are very dependable in the spit-up arena and yet this area of dependability should be curbed to blend in with the team here at PL.


Adaptability and Flexibility
Our compliments go out to you in this area. We have found you to be fully adaptable in many varied situations. Several times we have put you in the position of needing to work through your lunch hour and you have provided minimal disagreement. We are also encouraged with how willing you are to network with various family members as well as members of other social organizations such as GNF.


Decision Making/Problem Solving
Again, this will become more evident over time and is likely to be reviewed in more detail at your annual review. During your training period decision making is limited but more will be assigned to you over time. Problem solving is something we feel is a weakness for you. At this point we feel as though you require management to solve most of your dilemmas and we would like to encourage you to feel empowered to find solutions on your own.


In summary, Abigail, we wanted to let you know that we feel we made the right decision in inviting you to be a part of our organization and we are looking forward to a continued relationship as we work together towards mutual goals. We will review further at the end of your probationary period in 2 months.

Friday, December 02, 2005

Seriously, these things have got to be stopped!

This morning alone, one side alone, I have soaked through 8 breast pads and 2 fairly large rags (I got tired of using so many pads). Shouldn't there be an off switch somewhere?

Thursday, December 01, 2005

'Cause I'm not too bright, that's why (also known as: this one-handed typing is getting easier every day)

I keep telling myself that when she gives me five minutes of quiet time I should be cleaning the house for tonight's company.

But noooo.

I find myself back at the computer checking out blogs.

Discipline is NOT my middle name.

Well THAT was fun. NOT!

But, really, who needs more than 2.5 hours sleep?

Crazy thing was, even in the midst of 4 hours straight of trying to get her to sleep it still occurred to me that I prefer this over pregnancy.