I just discovered some "trigger words" yesterday that get Babysierra to smile. He will already smile for me when I look him directly in the face (provided he's in the mood, of course), but now others can get him to smile by telling him he's "so cute!" He smiled for the lactation consultant and both my parents. And it's not just any smile, either – he grins, tucks his chin, and lowers his eyes, like he's flirting or being coy. :)

This is the best smile pic I've gotten to date (taken with my phone):



Heh. Now to teach him his first words: "I know!" ;)

( Of Babies and Boobies, Take Two )

I went to the library yesterday on a commando-strike mission to pick up the Baby Whisperer books. I'm reading the first one slowly, as I nurse the baby. Unfortunately, I also got distracted by the DVDs for checkout, and have a couple things to watch now, which I really didn't need, except that sometimes trying to do something useful while feeding Baby is just not possible, and it's just more entertaining to throw something in the DVD player for background or distraction.

Okay, Baby is awake for a little while and calm. I should quit distracting myself and do something useful, like laundry.

Hasta!

I went back to kempo class on Thursday. My gi fits (it's a miracle!) and I still remember some of the material I was learning before I got pregnant. I can't go back as often as I used to, but he's opened up the studio in the mornings for open workouts, so I can go in during the morning for reviews and working my strength back up for class.

But, boy, am I sore! Not as sore as I expected to be, but still sore.

Doesn't help that I was rearranging the bedroom yesterday, too. The place was driving me NUTS. It's horribly cluttered, covered in clothes, and I wasn't able to walk in there. It needed work STAT. It's still in progress, but I can see a positive outcome!

The other challenge I've had lately is not necessarily something everyone wants to read, so it's behind a cut.

( Of Babies and Boobies )

Lastly, the laptop seems to be having issues. The backlight has been blinking out, and the computer turns itself off sometimes. I have to powercycle it to get it to come back on (that is, I have to take out the charger and pop out the battery). It's not had an easy life, so it's getting a little long in the tooth. But it's not a good time to need to buy a new laptop; especially not an Apple laptop. And I'm really not crazy about going to a Windows machine, even though I can get a discount on a Dell through Mary Kay. I don't know . . . I do know that I have to back this thing up fanatically for a while and somehow store all my bookmarks. I need to go through and write down all my passwords and logins, too.

Right now, though, I really ought to make some phone calls and go back to cleaning my room. It needs to be done, and I don't want someone else to do it, so I'm the one to do it. Tonight, I'm going to my parents' house so they can get some grandparent time and I can get a bath and some sleep. Hopefully that will help my state of mind . . .

Laterz!

( UPDATE: Of Babies and Boobies )

So, Sweetie is gone for two weeks. I'm not a wreck, but I do feel kind of pathetic. Directionless. Seriously, though – two weeks is kind of a drop in the bucket for us. So why do I feel so blue?

Because the first two weeks of a deployment are the hardest. He's not deployed, but he's gone for two weeks with limited communication. It's close enough to a deployment, 'cause he's not here. There's really not a whole lot of difference in the feel of it, except that I know he'll be back home in two weeks to resume "normal" life.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out my daily schedule so I can actually start booking some facials. Baby has hit a growth spurt, so he's eating often and for longer, especially in the evening. However, I've found he will go four hours between feedings now and take longer naps in the afternoon. That gives me a chance to do a facial or two a day. I don't get to move as fast as I'd like (doesn't help that I'm afraid of my phone!), but I'll at least get moving! And I'm about to get over my phone fear just so I can get out of the house in the evening!

Baby slept almost eight hours last night. I didn't, because the eight hours were from about 8:45 to 3:45, and I was at my parents' house till almost 11. (Okay, so he slept about seven hours. Math has never been my strong suit – especially when I'm sleep deprived.) I'm hoping he'll do it again tonight, despite having slept much of today away.

In other news, Baby is two months old today! Time is flying by, and he's growing SO FLIPPIN' FAST.

I managed to catch a bit of a smile on camera:



And the obligatory (and totally adorable) two-month photo!:



For more photos, check out the photostream. The newest ones are at the end.

In the future: Videos! I just need to upload them to YouTube so I can share them here, but I'll need to get the login info from my husband.

For now, it's Baby's (and my) bedtime. 'Night!

I should be posting most of this in my tiny_socks blog, but I'm lazy. ;) Not to mention, this is my life now. This has turned into a MOMMY BLOG. But I'll try not to overdo it. I merely want people to adore my son as much as I do. ;)

ANYway – I didn't have any clean newborn clothes to dress him in on Saturday, and he needed something new to wear. I looked around for something that said 0-3 Months and put him in a full-body outfit without footies. At first, he seemed to swim in it. By the end of the day it fit perfectly. Anyone ever heard of children having growth spurts just to fit an article of clothing? Me, neither. It was creepy. :)

Anyway, since that fit so well, I decided to try another outfit on Sunday in 3 month size. I came up with a onesie and pair of jeans I've been dying to use since I got them at my shower (they're not from the same person, but they're both so darn cute).

Check out my little "stud muffin" (heh, he looks so bored!):



He ended up spitting up all over the onesie, and it was cooler today, so I dressed him in the jeans and a littlt sweater. Originally, he had on a little blue zip-up hoodie, but it was a little too loose to wear while feeding.

He was SOOO tired this afternoon, that when he lost his pacifier while falling asleep, he didn't even cry for it:



He's getting so big! It's hard to tell sometimes, because he's still curls up so tight when he's held, but I'm beginning to notice his head is bigger, and he wears bigger clothes. I can hardly believe it! Also, it seems like a switch has been flipped recently, because he's looking at us now and beginning to notice things. He's beginning to coo, and he gave us his first real smile last night! We got a second one this morning, too. SO CUTE!!! Can't wait to get a picture of that. For now, it's just enough to get to see it. :)

Okay, enough gushing. :) I'll post pics of my brand new niece later. She is also very cute. But that's a given. ;)

I added more pictures to the Flickr set.

Here are a couple of teasers:





I can't get over how utterly adorable my son is!

He turned six weeks old yesterday. He's still pretty tiny, but he's beginning to grow out of his newborn clothes. He'll be swimming in his 3 month clothes for a while. I just have to sort them out and find the ones that fit the best till he can wear them all.

Hmm . . . I forgot what else I was going to say. I suppose I should take this opportunity to shower before he wakes up and wants to be fed again . . . Hasta! :)

Okay, I have approximately half an hour to forty-five minutes in which to post something. Babysierra has finally quit screaming and gone down for a nap before his final feeding for the night. I heard a little whimper just a second ago, but it still sounds as if he has his pacifier . . .

I do love motherhood, but I'm pretty tired – and my brain is fried. I'd love to just blow off the rest of the world, all commitments, everything for a few months until I can get this mommy thing down, but I find that I'm more susceptible to cabin fever now than I ever was before. It's weird. I think it's because being busy keeps me awake. :)

I do have the easiest baby in the world. He does fight sleep when he's put to bed against his will, but when he's finally asleep, he's down for the count. I'm still trying to get him on a schedule, per the instructions in On Becoming Babywise (which gets kind of a bad rap, but you really have to take the principles with a dose of common sense and instinct, not just follow it blindly as the answer to all your problems). I was having some success getting him to eat, stay awake for a while, then sleep for a while – repeat as often as necessary – and I was getting four to five hours of sleep at night. However, he's had some days where he just sleeps. He wakes up for a feeding, then goes back to sleep. Then he's waking up every three hours at night to be fed, but only eating on one side for fifteen minutes or so.

I have to admit to being a horrible middle-of-the-night feeder. I fall asleep and he falls asleep, and I don't know if he's been eating long enough to get the fatty hind-milk that will keep him fuller longer and not give him gas (the fore-milk is sugary, so it tends to give babies gas if that's all they get – and this kid is gassy enough on his own!). Really, the only reason he cries is hunger, gas, and when he's in need of a diaper change. He's a great baby!

It's easier on me if I feed him several times a day, try to keep him awake once in a while, then give him one middle-of-the-night feeding after sleeping for several hours in a row. I'm more alert during the day, and I'm able to structure my morning a bit so I can get a shower in and actually do morning things.

Honestly, I should be grabbing some Z's now, but I don't want to feel all muzzy from not enough sleep by the time I have to feed him again (in about thirty minutes) before putting him down for the night.

Okay, so perhaps thirty minutes was an overestimate . . .

He's beginning to fuss. I heard diaper action a little while ago, so I should go attend to that. No reason to let him go back to sleep if I'm just going to feed him in a little bit.

Perhaps I'll have pictures later . . . Bye for now!

My mother-in-law was perusing our local paper online, and noticed that the kitsapsun.com blog, The Bremerton Beat, discovered my husband's blog and featured one of Sweetie's posts about the baby, including a little writeup about Sweetie's blog.

A little slice of fame! How cool! :)

And it's true – my baby IS as cute as a button! ;)

Well, sleep deprivation doesn't help, either.

Last night, the "check engine" light came on in the Subaru. It has plenty of oil. It's possibly low on coolant. The earliest appointment I could get at our local shop is next Wednesday. It's our only family car. Frustrating.

My house is a pit, our storage unit is full, and I desperately need to get rid of stuff. I just don't know where to start. Shameful.

The worst part: My baby has his first cold. He was sniffling, sneezing, coughing, and (most frightening of all) choking. I usually am not one to freak out, but I just couldn't stop crying this afternoon. I didn't think breastfed babies got sick this early. So, here I was, worrying and blaming myself for his discomfort. I'm better now. I called the Tri[andget]care appointment line to make his two-month well-baby appointment, then tried to get an appointment for this cold, because I didn't know what else to do. The earliest appointment I could get was Tuesday. They also said I could call tomorrow, first thing, to see if I could be placed in a same-day opening.

I called PEDS (the pediatric clinic) for advice, and the gal on the other end said to get a rectal thermometer and bring him in to the ER if his temp is 100.4° or more. I could also bring him in if his breathing truly seemed labored. It doesn't if I keep him elevated, but the choking was really worrying me. I knew it would be a LONG night if I was going to be listening for his breathing or waking to choking after putting him down.

I read a couple tidbits online, trying to inform myself, but it was mostly nonprofessional advice. Many people did suggest saline drops and suction, so I went to Target today for pediatric saline drops and a rectal thermometer. Turns out I already had a rectal thermometer at home in a kit someone gave me for my shower; fortunately, I saw the same kit at Target and made the connection before buying another thermometer. UNfortunately, it's a 60-second thermometer, which means I have a seriously ticked-off baby who has peed all over himself by the time I have a temp. 98.6°, incidentally. That knocked my worry down a bit.

I can't decide whether to bother calling tomorrow, except that the doctor could at least get a look at his nose and throat. I doubt there's anything s/he could do after that, other than rule out anything more heinous than a cold.

Oh well. I gotta feed him and try to sleep a little. I'll update again later.

I uploaded a bunch of photos to Flickr. I was hoping to get all their titles and descriptions done so I could post here before feeding the baby again (and having to type one-handed). But – I fell asleep. As usual.

If I'm not out running errands or feeding the baby, chances are I'm unconscious or nodding off. Thus the lack of posts here.

I'm inbetween feeding at this moment (up until this sentence, I was typing one-handed), so I will quickly post the link to the Flickr photoset for the baby, so you can go there yourself to see our adorable little boy: Photoset

Turns out my fevers weren't the flu – I don't know what they were, actually. The 800mg Motrin given to me by the hospital knocked the fevers out. Someone brought up the idea to me that it might have been my thyroid readjusting itself. Between that, milk issues, and sleep deprivation, I was probably set up for some really wacky bodily reactions. I haven't had a bad temp since Sunday. Things seem to be reverting to "normal".

The baby is cute, Sweetie is bursting with pride, and I'm happy. I just can't stay awake for long enough to finish a post . . . Falling asleep now, actually . . .

'Night!

I got the flu shot a couple months ago, because I was strongly encouraged to by the OB clinic and the CDC.

Now, in addition to sleep deprivation, I'm running a fever and feeling very lousy in my head and chest. Mostly feverish, though, with chills. Thank goodness for 800mg Motrin! When that fever breaks, it's like hot flashes.

If it's a post-partum thing, it's probably mastitis (infection in the breast tissue), but I'm thinking it feels more like the flu, because of sinus pressure and a little lung irritation. Blecch. I did see a doctor today, who confirmed that everything seemed normal, but to keep an eye open for signs of mastitis, in case that's what it is. The window is right, apparently, for that infection.

I'm hoping it's the flu. Breastfeeding is hard enough without having to go on antibiotics.

More about the baby later. I need to change his diaper, which will wake him up, which will make him want to eat.

MAN my kid is cute! :D

Please read my post at tiny_socks. Sorry there's no fanfare at the moment. Computer battery's about to die, and I'm about to pass out from sheer exhaustion.

Night!

Still haven't had the baby yet. I feel like a total lump today, though. I have no desire to do anything but sleep and munch on berries. :) I can't have too many berries, though, because they have sugar. Maaaannn . . . I'm trying to suppress my cravings.

I fell on the stairs again last night, but it wasn't as catastrophic as the first time. I did land on my ample butt, which probably saved me, ;), but my tail bone took more of it this time. My elbow might be bruised, too. My back is a little stiff, but I don't feel anywhere near as painful as I did last time I fell. I really should walk barefoot at night, instead of wearing these slippers. I like my toes to be warm, but, despite their rubber soles, these slippers don't grip much when it counts (they're supposed to be called "slippers" because I just slip them on – not because they cause me to slip on things!). I just went back to bed feeling stupid, instead of horribly bruised and stupid. :)

Well, I should at least take a shower. It might wake me up some. Then I can go through baby clothes while I watch a movie. I need to wash the new clothes and pack an outfit or two for the hospital. I might pack my own go-bag first, though.

So lazy . . .

I woke up LATE today. But I went to bed late last night (early this morning, really). Sweetie has been up for a few hours already and is off at my brother's house, fixing his wireless network. It's a gorgeous, sunny day. I should be productive!

My living room is covered in bags of baby stuff from my shower on Saturday. I really ought to figure out where I'm going to put it all. :) At some point, I'm going to have to face my closet. All that pre-pregnancy clothing is going to have to go somewhere else and make way for maternity/post-partum and baby. We got several gift cards to Target, so we'll probably pick up some more metal mesh shelving to set up in the bedroom to keep all the baby stuff close at hand.

In the midst of this, I also need to go through all my old Mary Kay stuff and do an inventory list. Last Tuesday, I did what I didn't think I would ever do again, at least not this early: I re-signed up to sell Mary Kay. However, this time, I have a director who I LOVE and I'm surrounded by people I know, so it's not as scary or confusing this time.

Even before that guest event I went to last Monday, I had been staying up nights writing out a plan of action to run this business debt-free. I accumulated a lot of debt last time, making orders when I didn't have the sales and making an initial inventory order when I didn't have the resources (or know-how or motivation) to sell it off. In fact, a lot of the credit card debt is mine alone. And I don't want to get a J-O-B to pay it off. I want to do it a FUN way. :)

Part of the speech the National Director made last week included this statement: "Hm, I'm being asked to sell a product I love to people I like. How hard can this be?"

I feel exactly the same way.

I believe wholeheartedly that my skin has been nearly perfect this entire pregnancy due to Mary Kay products. I have never had such great skin in my life (well, after puberty) since using Mary Kay products. I like the company. I like the product. I love my new director and new fellow consultants. It feels right! :D

And, because I made my decision overnight (I'd filled out an agreement to win a free starter kit that night – feeling like I was going to throw up, because I wasn't sure I was ready and I definitely didn't have my husband's blessing yet), I earned this gorgeous ring:



The tag was still on it: $45.00.

I rarely get excited over jewelry, because I wear so little of it. Here's how excited (and proud) I am of this particular ring: I took off my high school class ring, which I've been wearing for the past twelve years straight – even in my wedding – to wear this one for the past few days.

I thought it would be hard to get my husband's okay, because he knows how much debt I could go into. I couldn't ask for it that night, so my director held the agreement and my check for me till the next day, when I could talk to him. I couldn't go to sleep right away and I couldn't stay asleep that morning when he got up – but I also couldn't form coherent sentences before he left for work. SO, I emailed him, laid out my reasoning, and told him I'd thought about just going for it without asking but I didn't want to start out that way. I also bribed him with steak. ;)

He was very happy that I'd asked. I got his permission with the condition that I not impoverish us. :) I called my director and had her mail the check and agreement that day, and I went to the meeting that night to be pinned. I still felt a little like throwing up, but this time it was excitement. :)

My goals:
-Pay off credit card debt (without going into more debt).
-Make some extra money that will give us some freedom to do things we wouldn't be able to do on a Soldier's salary.
-Pay off car debt.
-Fund Sweetie's lasik eye surgery.
-Eventually buy a house.

I'm even looking at that pink Cadillac as something I would be willing to drive, after all. Maybe my son could drive his date to high school dances in it. :)

I do have a lot of work to do to get myself to the point of meeting these goals, but I did the math, and if I sell just $200 a week, I can pay off one of our credit cards in a year. That's a long time, but if I didn't do it, that credit card would still be sitting there with a big ol' balance a year from now. I believe I can do better than $200 a week, but that's my "Start Small to Get Big" approach at this point. I'm about to have a baby, so starting out (and continuing on) like a cannonball might not be the option I can take.

Certainly doesn't mean I shouldn't try, ;), but I have to be realistic this time around. I can still dream, but I need to be realistic about my goals. At least the baby will be helping me get up early in the morning, and will be a constant living reminder of the life I want him to have. My husband is a good reminder, too, but he's also the main breadwinner. It's easy to fall back on that when business isn't moving along. But we're also looking more job options in the face, including deployment later down the line (maybe), and I want my husband to have choices. Heck, if I do really well with this, maybe someday he can be a Mr. Mom or stay home and write or build computers, or whatever he wants to do.

I've mentioned before that I'm afraid of this next presidential election. I suddenly have this urge to do everything I can do to help us become financially free – unafraid of bills and tax time. I'm not willing to go into real estate investing, like my dad wants to do, or try to start my own business from the ground. This is the best opportunity I've come across for me. And it feels really good. :)

And I actually looking forward to Seminar this year – the registration for which I will be funding with the money I make from my sales/commission, or I will not go at all. That's my deal with myself. And Sweetie might come with me! :D

I feel so good about this decision this time. Now I just need to get crackin'! :D

I still haven't cancelled the cable. (D'OH!!! I'm SO ashamed . . . )

Celebrate Jesus ended well, although with a skeleton crew. We had enough people to give a few people breaks who needed them, but we had to leave one scene unstaffed and up to the viewers' imaginations. Oh well – has to be done. I came very close to laying down the law to a couple of our actors who kept coming in for food and drinks without being told they could (it's not a big deal if we have alternates for them, but when they're abandoning their post – and young enough to stick it out for a few hours, for goodness sake – I am not sympathetic). The only things that saved them were the fact that it was the last night, I was very tired and in pain (my pelvis is beginning to complain more frequently) and didn't want to get up to chase them down. My helper person hadn't been able to make it that night, so I was using my husband as a go-between, but also as an alternate actor. I obviously did not impress this fact on some people before they went out to act in their scenes. That was my fault, and part of the problem. But it wasn't that big a deal in the long run. If I saw them inside, I kicked them out. Good enough. It's over now!

Our septic is pumped and usable again, but needs repairs, which will rip up the backyard a bit when they get into it. I'm glad I haven't worked very hard to landscape the place.

It's nice to be back home again, except that I'm once again faced with a messy, undecorated house and my lazy, unmotivated self.

Today I'm resting. This weekend was non-stop, and I was sleep-deprived and in pain. I didn't want to push myself any farther. I do need to get SOMETHING done, though. At least I've already scrubbed the shower and sink last week. The Magic Eraser (and cheaper, off- and store-brand versions) is MUCH more convenient, and easier on the septic, than chlorine bleach. It's also more reusable and I'm less likely to bleach my clothing (or worse, the clothing I've borrowed) by accident. Wish I could use it on my white towels. But I've learned that OxyClean will actually whiten things if they're left to soak overnight. Will have to try that!

Umm . . . it's 2:30pm, and I'm still in PJs. I should fix that.

I've been listening to talk radio a lot, and have been suppressing the urge to make political comments in this blog. I don't know how long I'll be able to suppress it the closer we get to election season, so be ready to either ignore or face some longish rants about issues you probably don't care about.

I can't believe Christmas is next week. Dang. It snuck up on me again . . . Maybe I will decorate in October next year . . .

Our concert went well on Saturday, and here's a review, comparing us to the Seattle Symphony. He uses a bunch of high-falutin' language and was merciful about our false starts and glaring missteps, but he seemed to favor our performance over the larger, more professional Seattle performance. I think I'm flattered. :)

Ummm . . . Yep. I'm entering the third trimester with a bang. I'm huge and not sure how I'm going to get bigger. Baby still has a little space to move around, but he's beginning to protest lack of space more often. I WILL get around to updating my preggie blog, I just keep not doing it. Too much going on!

. . . is over at tiny_socks

Hooray! :D

Well, it's looking like the employment crisis may have been averted. At least, it looks that way right now. October's going to be a little thin, but hopefully (Lord willing) November and following will be covered. We'll have to purchase health care for a month or two, and tighten our belts a bit, but it doesn't feel as . . . worrisome as it did before. It's still been impossible to get anyone to tell me what the heck is going to happen once I change plans, but that's because I'm going to a Navy facility. If the program was Trident Reserve Select, and not Tricare Reserve Select, they could probably tell me something. Alas.

I got to hear the baby's heartbeat on Wednesday. That was very exciting. :) And emotional. I think I've felt movement, too, but I can't be entirely sure yet.

I've been pretty emotional lately. I almost cried when I couldn't get any information from the Tricare desk, I cried while reading a book the other day, I cried when I heard the baby's heartbeat, and I almost cried when we went to a concert the other night . . .

Oh yeah, even though we're facing near-brokeness next month, we splurged on a couple of tickets to the Seattle Symphony's "Sci-Fi Favorites". It was SO. VERY. AWESOME!

The opening number was the main theme to Star Wars, and I nearly cried because it was so . . . wonderful. My childhood, in music! They played Star Wars, Superman, Star Trek, and a few others. We sat up in a box on the third level, almost right above the stage, looking down on the symphony. George Takei was slated as the narrator, but he only showed up a couple of times. They "beamed" him in with lasers and smoke at the beginning of the Star Trek montage (I missed this, as it was out of my view in the box, but I think Sweetie saw it). Though we were up in the third storey, we could see the stage clearly, almost like sitting on the main level a few rows back..

Sweetie was most excited about the Duel of the Fates theme from Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace, which is probably the coolest part of that movie, hands down. And the song was awesome. :) But it just couldn't hold a candle to the main Star Wars theme and the march from Superman. In my opinion, that is. ;)

Sitting in a theater chair and clapping a lot didn't do my neck any favors, unfortunately. The pain I've been feeling has been getting steadily worse, until I can barely move when I wake up in the morning. I can't find a comfortable position at night that will support my neck and shoulders, so it doesn't get to heal while I'm sleeping. I had a massage today — only half an hour, but it was helpful — and a chiropractic adjustment. I've been icing and heating off and on today, and it seems to be a little better. I also bought some supportive pillows, which I hope help out in the long run. When we have the money to spare, I'll buy a Snoogle, but for now, the pillows will do just fine.

Ugh, I really need to go to bed. I've been watching movies all evening, and right now I'm in the middle of The NeverEnding Story II. It was one of my favorite movies as a youngster (well after my obsession with Star Wars and Superman). I wish I could find my copy of the book. I think I read it twice in sixth grade. It was way better than both movies, but I had a huge crush on Jonathan Brandis (who played Bastian in the second movie), so I could forgive any badly adapted storylines. ;) Now that I'm watching it again, many years later, it's cheesy as all getout. :) The talking bird, Nimbly, reminds me of Papageno from Mozart's The Magic Flute — probably one of the most annoying operas of all time, although the Night Queen's aria is very cool.

ANYway . . . the movie's almost over, so it's almost bedtime. And I've written a lot already. Good night! :)

I'm not going to repost what I've already posted in my pregger-blog, so you'll just have to go over to tiny_socks to read about my ultrasound and see the pictures. :)

Short version: There's a baby in there! It has a head, a heartbeat, and is already pretty active. I think it was Jazzercising — or thrashing around while sleeping, just like its daddy. ;)

I need to go to bed now. Long day tomorrow (which thankfully doesn't begin till 11am, but that's soon enough!).

Night!

Welcome to the world, Aiden Samuel! :D :D :D

My little nephew was born yesterday, early in the morning. It was only supposed to be a simple inducement, but she ended up having to undergo a C-section. My poor sister-in-law has to spend her birthday today in the hospital. :(

I got to visit yesterday and hold the little guy. He is so tiny, and SO CUTE!!! :D He is the newest newborn I've ever held. :)

So far, my brother thinks his crying is the funniest thing — which it is, because it sounds a little bit like a bird — but it will be interesting to see what he thinks of it in the next few weeks. He is deliriously happy. I'm so proud of him. :)

Okay, I've gotta go. I have nieces to babysit today (on Sweetie's side of the family). :)

I got to the martial arts studio this morning at 10 (a little earlier, actually) for the self defense class, but he said it wasn't going to hold because not enough people signed up. However, I decided that I would make an effort to make it on Wednesdays, even if it meant leaving Bible class a little bit early. So, I signed up for the class and was fitted for a new uniform.

Signing up for the self defense class means I get to join in on all the adult classes, too, so I went home, ironed the studio patch onto my uniform, and showed up for the 12pm class. Heh, no one else showed up for that, either. SO, I got the teacher all to myself, for the price of the self defense class (private lessons cost extra). He taught me the five stances and a couple of punches. My ankles were pretty sore when I left, but I can't wait to go back tomorrow night, and Thursday, and Friday . . . :)

It's a blast! :D

Now, I need to get ready for my evening out with some girls from church. Not sure what we're going to do tonight. I think it was going to be a slumber party, but I need to be back home tonight to receive a call early, early tomorrow morning from my mom to tell me my little niece or nephew has been born. Yay! :D My brother's wife is having a baby the day before her birthday. Wow!

Okey doke. I should quit sitting on my butt, and get moving. Laterz!