So long, fair well, auf weidersehn, good bye

We'll miss you Karen. You were always one of our favorites.

to all a good night...

Bridget enjoying her first Christmas Day... see any resemblance?

Merry Christmas to all

and to all a good night....

Third time's a charm

This is the third time I've tried to write a post and everytime I publish it, Blogger eats it. Grrr...

Anyway, I wanted to give everyone a quick update for the Christmas Eve goings on at Ivy Trace. Babygirl is very excited that Santa is on his way tonight... well, maybe she isn't as much as her mommy is, but it is certainly fun. I even get that little tingly feeling like when you're a kid thinking about the magic of Christmas eve and even though she doesn't know it yet, she's helping to bring that magic back into our lives as well... I never really complete lost it, but you look at things differently with a brand new little one.


So far today we made appetizers, baked cookies and watched football. It's been a pretty good Christmas eve and it's about time to pack up the car and head to Steph and Jim's for the Delanty /Gianino /Fabry /Brennan /Ellis celebration. It promises to be as fun as always!

We officially kicked off our holiday season on Friday with a fabulous dinner and present opening time at Mom and Dads. It was awesome and fun as always.

I even have wrapped all my presents early this year. At least, that is, if you count wrapping until 2am last night early. But for me, that's amazing. One quick rant about wrapping paper - at what point did all the wrapping paper manufacturers get together and decide they needed to tape a new roll of wrapping paper in like 15 places? Isn't the complete plastic cover on the roll enough? I mean did we really need the tape, too? It drives me crazy you have to be so careful not to A) rip the paper or B) pull the paper off with the tape leaving behind only paper backing. I mean were they all sitting around at the last WPMC (wrapping paper manufacturers conference) and decided that tape was the way to go???

Lastly, on one sad personal note, we'd like to recognize Buddy IV who met with an untimely demise this morning. Buddy was a good fish and he will be sorely missed by us and Buddy V. We can only hope that Buddy IV is looking down on us from that big fish bowl in the sky with Buddy's I, II, and III. We love you Buddys!

Merry Christmas to all and especially to our little magic munchkins, Matthew and Bridget - may this only be the beginning of years of magic and wonder to come for you and your mommy's and daddy's!

Soon it will be Christmas day...

I can't believe it is December 21st already. Well, actually I can - I knew it would fly by as usual. Also as usual, I am completely behind. Tim and I went shopping last night and we were going to conquer it all and then, of course, by 6:30 were so starving we just had to go eat at Chili's with our gift certificate we've been saving FOREVER -then two beers and a lot of fajita's later we were ready to cache it in and go get babygirl. Grandma and Grandpa D were watching her so we could get some secret Santa presents. I hear Santa doesn't officially start making visits until they are over a year... that's just what I hear - don't shoot the messenger.

Anyway, tonight/this afternoon I plan on kicking some serious Christmas shopping ass. (Sorry, I've decided my blog isn't completely pg, I'm making it pg-13) that will be as bad as it gets. I have my Sydney's Closet Christmas lunch at Bristol's today...yummy! After that, I'm going shopping and finishing it off! The only problem is we always drink a little wine and linger around for a while, so I'm hoping we don't have another repeat of the laziness of last night after lunch today. Plus, babygirl is with G & G J today, so I have another free afternoon and I really need to capitalize - lord knows I don't want to be anywhere near a mall, old navy, barnes and noble or any of those places this weekend.

Well, better get to work, even though it's Christmas lunch day, there is still plenty of work to do no matter how little I feel like doing it!

This picture is from Bridget up at SC with me. They have a little bassinet and everything set up for her, so she can hang with mom while I work. They love her so much, it's so nice, I am really lucky to have them be so accomodating for a working mommy!

Happy almost the holiday season!

Santa and Mrs. Claus

So, we didn't get too many great shots of them together, but I still think this is too funny not to use as a blog header. For those who don't know this is Bridget and her best bud Matthew during one of their forced "we're really just here for our mommy's to take pictures" photo shoots. This one was too cute, though and soon enough you will see the results of our efforts in both the Delanty and Muldrow holiday cards.

The best part was rangling up four dogs in antlers and making them sit while we snapped away. At times, though, they actually were easier subjects than the little babes.

I'm posting just a couple from the photo shoot, but will post most of them on shutterfly soon after everyone has received the too cute christmas cards from Aimee and I. That way it will be more of a surprise!

Well, too much to do today as this is a super busy weekend with Mom D's 60th birthday party (I have some secret missions to do for that today) and then we are celebrating Liggy's college graduation on Sunday. Congrats LIGGY!!! It's a great feeling, isn't it?? Then throw in there that I actually need to buy some Christmas presents at some point and it's a little crazy!

Happy Friday to all!

Thanksgiving pics...

finally, I have posted the pics of Turkey day in Georgia... I'm still working on posting the adorable Christmas photos from Sunday, but I'm working on it... check out my photo website at delanty.shutterfly.com.

Big Birthday!

Happy 60th Mom D! Can't wait to celebrate this weekend! Love you!

Life's not always fair...

I got some really devastating news yesterday, and while I don't want to go into the specifics of it right now, I would appreciate everyone's prayers and thoughts for my extended family, they need all the support they can get right now.

Kiss your significant others, hug your kids, call a good friend and give the pets a treat. Life is precious, albeit incredibly unfair at times.

One year ago today..

My how time flies! I can't believe it was exactly a year ago, probably to the minute when I was doing pretty much exactly what I am doing right now: Sitting at my computer, checking email, doing a little work when for some still unknown reason to me, I jumped up and decided to take "the test". Without going into the gorey details, there really was no reason for me to believe I was pregnant and certainly no reason to take the test that day. It was definitely too early to be testing, if you know what I mean. But for some reason, I did it.

I leave my computer, take the test and then return to my work knowing it would be negative mainly due to the aforementioned gorey details. Plus, supposedly it takes a couple of minutes so I just left the test and came back to the computer to keep working. After about 10 minutes, curiosity got the better of me and I went back to where I had hid the test in my closet, picked it up and let out a very quiet little gasp. There in front of me was the faintest little tiny pink line. I was pretty calm, but in awe, it was almost surreal...am I seeing a line? Is that really there? No...it can't be....

I placed the test back under a stack of t-shirts, went back to the computer and proceeded to feverishly look up "faint lines" on hundreds of websites - work at this point was out the door. I still did not really believe it and to complicate matters, after an hour of internet research I find out that when you leave the test for more than 10 minutes faint lines called evaporation lines can appear when a test is not checked in the alotted time period. WHAT!? CRAP!! How long had I left it? Had it been 10 minutes? Crap, crap, crap (btw, that's the pg version of what I really said...) I had put myself in complete limbo land and now, I had to sit here wondering whether or not that was a "faint" positive line or "evap" line...and the worst part...I had no more tests. So, I put it out of my mind.. sort of.. and proceeded to finish up the project I was working on. It's such a strange feeling when you are not sure... it's a mix of overwhelming excitement, terrifiying anxiety, wanting it to be true so badly and at the same time not sure if you want it to be true. So, I had to just stop thinking about it.

After work, I made a quick getaway to do a little Christmas shopping and of course to get some more tests. I remember the feeling I had walking around Gordman's and it would just hit me that maybe... maybe... and I would just smile. Then I knew I wanted it and wanted it badly. After my trip to Wal-mart I came home with tests and immediately went back upstairs and tested again... this time I would not miss my window. In exactly two minutes, there it was again...the cute little faint line. This time there would be no "evap" line and I was sure, although, it was still so hard to believe.

Believe it or not, I just sat on that little gem of information while I proceeded to take at least 16 more tests (I'm exaggerating, but there were a lot!) of different kinds - digital ones, pink ones, blue ones, fast ones, slow ones - every last one was positive. That night, I went to Becky's Christmas party with Tommy and Libby (Tim stayed home with Riley who had hurt his leg the night before) and I fake drank Martini's and punch. Tommy even called me out on not drinking fast enough. I couldn't believe it - it was a Martini for crying out loud. Who drinks a Martini fast? So, I had to keep walking in the kitchen and pouring it out little by little. It was so weird, too, not to be able to drink that Martini, especially when it is all so new and you're still not sure you believe it...things just changed on a dime that day.

The next day, December 11th, was Mom D's birthday party at our house and I had planned on telling Tim that day, but the opportunity never really arose during the day with all the bday preparations and cleaning. I was going to go to Walgreens and get a card for him (and one more test...just to be sure) before the party so I made up some lame excuse to go and he told me that I didn't have time and why was I trying to push it to Walgreens... grrr...okay then, you won't find out you're going to be a daddy tonight. He would have to wait another day. That same night, again, somebody called me out on drinking water. Maybe I was just more sensitive to it, but I remember thinking so these people have "pregnancy-dar" or am I giving out "pregnant" vibes right now... how the hell?

Finally on Monday, the 12th, I set a hot dog bun and the controversial walgreens card inside the oven and taped a sign to the oven that simply said, "TPD, Open Me"... It felt like an eternity, he was in and out of the kitchen, back and forth and... nothing. It was probably the most nervous I've ever been in my whole entire life and the agony just kept getting prolonged. I would tense up every time he walked in there and every time he came right back out. I finally, after at least 7 trips in and out of the kitchen where he failed to notice the sign, marched in there, pointed to it and made him open it... I absolutely could not take it anymore. He opened the door and just stood there for a minute and ultimately just said "no...no... really?" I could tell he was so excited when it finally sunk in.

So, that's the way it all went down, starting a year ago right now, little did I know the extreme turn my life was about to take over the next 48 hour period and ultimately up to now. And here I sit a year later, with babygirl sitting on my lap helping me write this and I can't even begin to think about if that line had been an "evap" line...

Long Term Effects...

It's been a little while since the last post! I've just been so busy with work and our new site, which I am still not quite ready to post links to, that I've fallen down on my posting duties. I feel like I am glued to a computer screen almost all waking hours except driving and showering. I am looking at the computer screen from sometimes as early as 5am to as late as midnight some nights. I am reading while feeding babygirl, working all day long, surfing and researching while l watch Earl in the background, designing for the new business in bed with the news on in the background.

I've become attached to the computers. It's almost to the point where if I've been out or away from a computer for more than an hour or so, I get ancy to get around one. I don't know what I would have done without any power here.

Okay, enough about computers, but I do worry sometimes about the long term effects of sitting in front of this screen type, type, typing or reading constantly. We are really the first generation to grow up with computer screens in front of us and I am on the extreme end of the spectrum in relation to how much time I spend in front of them...

We got our Christmas tree last night (leave it to us to pick the coldest day of the year to bundle up babygirl and subject her to frigid temperatures). Regardless, it was a quick process and it's a frasier fir and very fresh, so that's exciting. I'm not sure when we will actually get to decorate it as we have a pretty busy weekend with holiday events and drinks with friends, but, hopefully we can do it either tomorrow or Sunday at the latest. I have sporadically worked on Christmas decorations, so I'm excited about getting those finally finished!

Lastly, babygirl is talking up a storm these days and is very vocal when she is hungry or unhappy. You'll hear about it- no question. She's also started this kind of screaming/screeching stuff that is incredibly disturbing, but again, is just her way of letting you know she needs some attention and, unfortunately, I can't help but laugh at it. I can already fast forward in my mind a couple of months when she has perfected that skill and will scream at random in public places and at quiet places. I'm sure we will be one of "those" people in church who can't control their screaming children. You can just tell that's the path she's going down. I still love it, though. It's so funny to see her discovering her voice and changing every single day. I'm excited for her first Christmas, even though she won't really understand yet, it's still a fun time for Tim and I to have her here.

Well, that's all for my quick post today - I apologize for the randomness or my ramblings. TGIF!!

Ready for the Holidays!

I needed to update the look for Christmas! Don't worry moms, she was only out there for like 30 seconds max. It was literally - set her down, snap a pic, back in the house!

Hope you like the new look. Please feel free to comment!

Happy snowy Friday day to all!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

the weather people know what they're talking about! Okay, I am officially conceding round 2 to the weather people. They didn't overshoot this one. Now, they were still a little off on snowfall totals and I think my brother's philosophy holds true in that I think we got about an inch and a 1/2 of actual snowfall. HOWEVER, I will give them that this was a major storm.

Way to go weather people! Let's keep up the good work!

I've already been outside this morning taking more pics, so I'll try and post those after my deadline this morning. Of course, I don't think anyone is in the office where I have the deadline...but whatever.

So, officially, if you're still keeping score:



Erin - 1
Weather people - 1

Maybe they're right about this one... maybe

Babygirl has been sleeping through most of the exciting weather news!

Below are some of my artsy shots of the ice out here. I bet you didn't see that coming. What else are you going to do at home. I mean Custom Web dismissed all it's employees already, so I got to head home early and take pictures!

 


 
 
  Hope you are all snuggly warm at home... or at least will be sometime tonight. Be careful out there my friends!

My New Favorites

Okay, it's official - I have two new favorite metereologists... da da da... Glenn Zimmerman and Dave Murray. They tell it like it is and Dave even said how he doesn't want to make it a bigger deal than it is as far as snowfall totals. They are just good weather folks!

No, I am not obsessed, well just a little, but since I work from home, I do have the luxury of having a tv on in the background and no one about to walk into my office to make sure I am doing what I'm supposed to be doing. Well, unless you count tpd who walks up here about once an hour cause I think he gets bored, but I don't really care what he thinks about what I'm doing.

Hmmm..no wonder I end up working until 7pm every night and then again after babygirl goes to bed....

"Tomorrow morning we'll wake up with possibly 6 inches of the white stuff..."

I may just be bitter, well I definitely am bitter, (I've already discussed my pent-up St. Louis childhood weather resentment in previous posts), but I just don't believe it. I think my brother's philosophy is to take whatever the weather people predict and cut it in half from the lowest number. So, for example if they are calling for 1-3 inches of snow. You take the lowest number (that would be one if you're playing along) then you cut that in half and that is about how much snow we'll actually get.

My good old weather friend Scott Connell says 3-6 inches in the metro area, so we're looking at appoximately 1 and 1/2 inches here in the St. Louis area. That is my prediction...we'll see what tonight and tomorrow brings.

I just hate getting my hopes up, because unlike my husband, I LOVE the snow and looking forward to a big snowstorm and making chili, getting a Christmas tree and having a fire in the fireplace...oh wait, I think you need a chimney for that, but I digress. If we got snowed in we could finally clean my wrecked house and start decorating the new living room layout - thanks Tommy and Liggy! Babygirl would get to experience her first big snowfall and of course I would put her out in it and take lotsa pics! Anyway, I'll secretly hope for the best (lots and lots of snow!) but I won't get my hopes up too high...

Well, babygirl is waking up, I'll check back in with another "Major Winter Storm" update later today!

Georgia on my Mind

I've finally managed to post some pics of Thanksgiving. These are just a few of the highlights, but I have many more to post soon.   This was on the drive home, but she just looks so darn cute.

Next is Cousin Sean taking over the feeding duties! He was really good with babygirl and seemed to enjoy caring for her a lot! 
 

Babygirl loved to play cards! She sat with me forever and then Kim without making a peep. She was really mesmerized by the cards!  Too funny.

Lastly is Babygirl and her Great Grandpa. They make a great pair!

I'll post the rest of the pictures on Shutterfly later today after they finish uploading. Kim (since I know at least you read this blog - can you post those pictures of Thanksgiving day I took with your camera?) Thanks!
  

Winter Weatheroff Installment #2

Well, here we go again. I just heard my favorite weather person Scott Connell say, and I'm quoting this verbatim, because, yes I wrote it down right after he said it, "This will be the kind of winter storm, the likes of we haven't seen in St. Louis in some years"... hmmm... really, Scott? Now, Scott is my favorite since he doesn't usually sensationalize the crap out of weather like Cindy does, but this one he is really building up. So, round two is ready to start. We'll check in later tonight or tomorrow with any updates.

Could this be the first "winter storm" the weather people actually predict correctly? We'll see...

Tuesday Night Leftovers during Friday Night Lights

I am struggling to find time to work on my usual things these days and I'm finding it very frustrating. It's 7 pm and I feel like I've been going non-stop for the past 12 hours. Tim says welcome to parenthood, but honestly it's the in-flux of work, the new business and an overwhelming amount of housework and Christmas decorating that's got me all stressed out. I'm even feeling shakey right now, just trying to get this post in. I want to sit back, have a glass of wine and watch Friday Night Lights, but all the work piling up is too much. Well, that's enough of my pity party, I'll be better after getting this all out.

Okay, for the good stuff. Babygirl was awesome for our whole trip. Even after the 3 1/2 hour drive turned into a 7 hour drive, she was still a trooper. Then, coming home on Sunday, she entertained herself and only got irritated when mommy pushed feeding her entirely too long and then tried to maneuver herself over into the backseat and almost took out both of us!

We had a great time visiting with family in Georgia. Babygirl was a big hit, especially with her 9 and 6 year old cousins, Sean and Jackson respectively. Sean was a great babysitter and got to know all of her cries and sounds by the time we left. He was telling me she needed to burp and/or eat! He even fed her a couple of times. Looks like he's lobbying for a new baby brother or sister. Watch out Ted and Shannon!

Great Grandma and Grandpa also had a good time hanging out with bg. Grandma was a great babysitter and Grandpa liked to hold her a lot. She seemed to like it, too. She seemed very comfortable in her Great Grandma and Grandpa's house. Great Uncle Walt and Aunt MaryAnne also got to meet Bridget and were happy to learn she is definitely a Bulldog fan and NOT a Georgia Tech fan. Unfortunately, it was our last night there and she was a little fussy, but it was only because she was so excited about the Dogs winning the big game that she had stayed up a little too long! I think they liked her anyway.

Thank you so much Ted, Shannon, Sean, Jackson, Morgan, Katie, Cassie and Lobo (sorry if I spelled any of those wrong) for letting us invade your space. It was perfect for us and you made it so warm and inviting. We appreciated it so much and can't wait to come back again soon!

All in all, we had an absolutely fantastic time with our Georgia family and babygirl was extremely excited to make her first trip down! We love you all and had a great time (even helping Becky for hours with her cards - just kidding, Beck, it was a lot of fun!)

We missed all you St. Louis family and friends and hope you all had fantastic Turkey Day's as well!

One last babygirl note, she is soooo.. cute these days. Smiling up a storm at just about everyone and cooing and gaaaing constantly. While Matthew liked the mmmmmmmgaaaaaaa, Bridget seems to prefer the oooooaaaagggggaaaa. Gotta just love em, don't ya? She is also very close to rolling over. She's done it on a smooshy surface, but still struggles a little on the gym mat. I'm guessing she'll get it really soon! She's getting so big, time is just flying by!

I'll post Turkey Day pics later tonight or tomorrow when I am not so stressed. Just typing this all though, I already feel better. I think Aimee said how nice it was just to get down all your thoughts and I really think it is very cathartic. Okay, again, I'm rambling. On to the other tasks of the evening...

Go webmasters!

Turkey Time

Happy Thanksgiving from Warner Robbins, Georgia. We got in LATE yesterday after spending about 3+ hours in Atlanta traffic. Our second "short" drive that was supposed to be about three and a half hours turned into almost seven hours after slow traffic the whole entire way.

Regardless, we weren't in a hurry and babygirl is an awesome traveler so that made for a very easy trip even if it was a significantly longer trip than we had anticipated.

We stayed in a Holiday Inn in Manchester Tennessee on Tuesday night and bg did great, sleeping all the way through the night while mom and dad imbibed in some much needed bud light and Italian carryout. It was a great evening and a good start to our Thanksgiving holiday.

Well, it's time for me to make some broccoli cheese casserole, so Happy Turkey Day to all, we miss all you family and friends that we are not there with today and hope you are all having a great time!

Eat a lot, drink a lot and be merry!

happy turkey day!!

So many things to blog about...So little blogging time

I really have absolutely no time for this today, but it was such a great weekend, I just had to give a little update. We had a great time Friday at the Muldrows just hanging out, watching the best show on tv, the office, and playing a little battle of the sexes trivial pursuit. It was a fun friday night!

Saturday was mostly cleaning day at the Delanty's in preparation for babygirl's big baptism day. We did a lot of work, but in the end the house looked nice and we had a nice party for everyone.

 
Sunday was the big day and it went great. The baptism was very long and my feet paid the price in my new boots, but it was nice and was a good service. Babygirl had enough by about 1/2 an hour into it, but she did well even though we pushed feeding her to the absolute limit. I felt bad, but didn't realize the service would be an hour long! Thanks to Aunt Kim who was a great photographer and thanks to everyone who was a part of such a special day for us and babygirl!

Sunday also brought with it some bad, sad news. The webmasters have now been brought down for the second time. Yes, I suffered my second loss of the season to Big10 of all people. They didn't even post any smack talk to rub it in. I was so busy preparing for the party and baptism that I didn't barely check my fantasy at all or even show much interest in this weeks game. I think the fantasy gods must have sensed all that bad karma and punished me. So, this week, even remotely, I will come back stronger than ever!



That is really all I have time for today as I think my head might explode if I start thinking about all the dishes and mess downstairs, the two client deadlines I have today, the fact I need to put in about 4 hours onsite at the closet, pack up our selves and a new baby, play volleyball, pick up the crib from mom and dad... aaahhhh see I shouldn't have even started typing it all out cause I might have a mini melt down right now.

I'll be posting from the road next time!

First Installment Winter Weather-off 2006-2007

If you're keeping score:

Erin - 1
Weather People - 0

To snow or not to snow?

Does it bug the hell (sorry, but I think I can say hell in my blog) out of anyone else the way the weather people sensationalize what is clearly NOT going to be any big deal of a snowfall? I mean, if I hear "be prepared for our first bout with winter weather" or "I'll tell you how much snow you can expect" come out of Cindy Prezler or Mike Bush's mouth one more time, I might lose it... permanently.


I realize I'm in the minority here, but I love and look forward to a good 'ole fashioned snowfall and I absolutely HATE (I think I'm harboring some deep childhood resentment here) when they get my hopes up about snow and then I awake at 3am, 4am, 5am and run to the window hoping to catch a glimpse of white everywhere and I am met with only darkness and drizzle. Grrrrrr....


This year, I am starting the official "see how many times the weather people are wrong about winter weather" count. We'll just see IF they ever get it right all season. Tonight is the first installment. Check back tomorrow to see how close they were. So far, at the 6pm news they were forecasting for 1-2 inches in the St. Louis metro area. I'll be watching the 10pm news here in 10 minutes and I'll jump back on and repost if that forecast has changed.

That is all for tonight. Babygirl and I had a long day of working inside. I must say on days like today it is extremely nice to be able to hole yourself up inside your house and work. No getting bundled up or driving in the rain...well, that is unless you decide you must have a southwestern chicken salad from Jack in the Box and you do have to bundle up your not-even 3 month old and drive 10 miles to the nearest JITB..but again I digress.. she was great today. I got so much done and she is really falling into being a perfect baby. She takes long naps now and doesn't only cry when awake. She still goes through a pretty rough period in the evening, but like I said, I can deal with that easily compared to what we went through early on.

Allright, back to work for me (new business keeps me busy - I'm almost ready to let everyone in on it, just a few more days or weeks).

"Stay tuned we'll have your full updated forecast on some white stuff headed our way, coming up in just a few minutes"... yeah right Cindy.

p.s. - I just thought the dogs in the snow were cute, that's all.

p.p.s. Update 10:22pm - Cindy says - "if the rain moves out before the cold weather moves in, then we won't see any precipitation in the form of snow"... brilliant Cindy, thanks for that meterological-ese insight for us lay people that just wouldn't understand COMMON SENSE. Anyway, they are still calling for 1-2 inches and don't forget "for the latest on winter weather tune in to today in St. Louis at 5am - Scott will have the latest on our dynamic weather system..."

Weekend Recap

New pictures up on Shutterfly! Be sure to check out the link on the right. They are from Tommy's 25th bday and yet another babygirl photoshoot. If you haven't signed up at Shutterfly, you are missing out! Click on my link (AKA big advertisement) on the right and you can receive free prints! (Not to mention I get credit too.) I just love Shutterfly's collections and photobooks. Okay, I digress from the point of my post, but it really is good guys!

We had a pretty good weekend, it was very low key since Tim and I decided to come down with pretty harsh colds, we didn't do a whole lot. We did manage to get the house cleaned up on Saturday so that was a nice feeling. There is still a lot of work to be done before her baptism, but at least we're getting there.

I went and looked at bridesmaids dresses with Christina on Saturday. That is so exciting! It will be a busy wedding season this spring, but I am looking forward to it. I hope so much to be back down to a normal size by her wedding. It's my goal for the winter to get back into shape. Tim and I have already started our own little "biggest loser" contest, so hopefully that will help as anything that is turned into a competition certainly helps me to stay focused. I'm really excited for their wedding, though, seeing as it has been a long time in coming and Christina certainly deserves this time. It will be really fun being a part of this with her and Kim. We'll have some fun!

Today on Oprah they are talking to a woman who claims to have unlocked the secret language of babies. So, we will definitely be watching that as the question I ask babygirl the most is unfailingly, "what?", "what's wrong?", "what do you want?". Hopefully this baby lady knows what she's talking about. I hate to get my hopes up, but so far this morning she was already right about one thing and I learned that just by looking at her website! I have my dad and all my friends with babies on alert to watch it today, so we'll see what happens!

Babygirl is still doing awesome sleeping wise. We've had a couple of nights of early wakeups, but I'm sure that's just because she is hungry. Other than that, she is sleeping for stretches of 8-10 hours at a time. Life is great! She still has her early evening fussy period almost every night, but we are working through that and have gotten quite used to it and almost come to expect it.

More to come later. Go Webmasters (sorry, kim!)

Quick squirrel update: we still have the little guy conducting squirrel aerobics classes on Monday mornings from 7-8:30am (see previous post about squirrel scenarios) so we are not sure what we are going to do... I'll keep you updated!

"What's that sound? You hear it? It's a funny squeaky sound."

Well, it is Friday and I've gotten little to no work done today. Babygirl was good, just a little high maintenance today so I spent a fair amount of time playing and hanging out with her. That was one thing, but the funniest thing was when my husband decided to try and rid our attic of a friendly little visitor I lovingly refer to as Mr. Squirel ("squirrely, squirrely, squirrely...i love you little squirrely" - for you tpd). Unfortunately after climbing into the attic and searching around for the little beady eyed creature, careful not to put a foot in the drywall and through the ceiling, we were unsuccessful in locating his home.

You may be wondering how we know we have a squirrel(s) in the attic. It actually took a lot of deducing. At the beginning of the week, I continually heard weird noises coming from down the hall. In a matter of minutes, I went from thinking our house was being robbed to then deciding, after failing to find said intruder, that those noises had to be from a ghost in the attic. I finally investigated outside by the gaping hole where the chimney once stood (don't even have time for that story) and sure enough as if smiling at me and singing "nah, nah, nee, boo boo" was a little squirrel perched right on the opening to the attic (again where there is a huge HOLE in the side of the house). This was Tuesday and since then we have heard him scurrying and scratching feverishly at something. We can only guess what he is doing up there, but I do have fun making up those scenarios...but again, I digress...

It was all fun and squirrel games until last night when tpd said, "turn the monitor way up in babygirl's room, I want to make sure we can hear if the squirrel gets in there" that I freaked out a little. Having a visitor running a late night squirrel's only bar and grill (one of the aforementioned scenarious) in the attic is one thing, having it scratch a hole in the ceiling to my 11 week old's room is another story.

So today was the day to evict our unauthorized houseguests (kinda like when we have to kick the Muldrow's out after being here for weeks on end - just kidding Muldrows!). As we ascended into the attic we were both fairly terrified, as we were completely unprepared to do anything with it had we actually come across the critter. It would have undoubtedly been like that scene in Christmas Vacation where the squirrel jumps out of the Christmas tree right onto one of us and the continues to wreak havoc on the house. Our only plan of action was having Brogan hang out at the bottom of the ladder in case the little guy ran for the attic opening. Brilliant plan! Alas, no dog/squirrel fight happened, but I woulda had money on the squirrel anyway.

Clark: Russ, go get the hammer. Ellen: Clark, what do you need a hammer for? Clark:I'm gonna catch it in the coat... And smack it with the hammer. Ellen: You are not going to kill that squirrel in front of all these kids! Clark: Well honey, what do you suggest?

Basically our visitor lived to throw another dance party (yet another scenario - picture little squirrel dj booth's and sipping martini's in the corner of the attic). We'll see what happens, but babygirl may be back sleeping in our room if we hear anymore funny squeaky sounds...as long as Liggy's not here (mememememememememe)!

I'll keep you posted! Happy weekend to all!

Halloween candy IS the devil!

There is so much Halloween candy in this house I can't even stand it. I'm not even a candy person, but of course I buy the two types of Halloween candy I can't resist: snickers (may I interest you in a snickers fine sir) and the ultimate candy of all candies in the universe - the peanut butter cup. The perfect combination of chocolate and creamy peanut butter in a cute little ridged cup. I mean - pure GENIUS! Any other type of sweet I can take or leave, but you put together a little peanut butter and chocolate and watch out. It certainly doesn't help that now there are 50 little beautiful orange cups sitting on my dining room table that I have to walk by at least 100 times a day. So far I've resisted it every time, but this torture has got to stop.

Someone please take them off my hands since I don't have the heart to throw them away. I've somehow managed throughout my life to project human emotion on inanimate objects. So, in my head, I think if I threw them away they'd all be sad and thinking about how they missed out on their one big candy moment and now they are doomed to be foraged on by animals or rot in a dump. Sick, I know... That and I spent $20 bucks on candy that I don't want to go to waste!

Please email me if you are interested in giving these little guys a good home. Offers will be accepted throughout the end of the week. I'll even throw in their little friends milky way and three muskateers (if tpd hasn't done away with all of them)!

Well, on to work. I have a huge client development meeting tomorrow and all I can do is sit here and think about the little orange and brown beauties downstairs.. fighting fighting the urge to go get one and to stop trying to justify that reese's peanut butter cups will actually make me work harder and smarter.

Oh yeah, if I can snap my brain out of candyland, the pic is of Babygirl this morning. She just looked so cute hugging her little teddy I couldn't resist. The outfit (although you can't really see it - is SO cute) is from Erin and Jeremy Moyer (AKA Hutch and J-Mo). They are expecting their first little babygirl Ava James at the end of January! I am very excited for them and have already bombarded her with my "new mom" lessons learned and expectations. I'm sure she is eternally grateful for my nonstop insight. Regardless, congrats to them and thanks for the adorable outfit - she wears this one all the time! Happy Wednesday to all! 

Tired Tuesday

I cam barely keep my eyes open to work, so I thought a little blog burst might help. It always gets my adreneline pumping when I work on the blog. The weekend was nice although busy. On Friday, we had a big birthday celebration for Uncle Tommy and everyone had a great time. I haven't downloaded the pics yet (I know can you believe it...) but I will soon. Then Saturday we all convened to watch the Mizzou game and have some wings at the fabulous Helen Fitzgerald's. Unfortunately, babygirl is a little too little for Helen's wings, but I cannot wait until she can basque in the beauty of a crispy little wing bathed in ranch dressing. It doesn't get much better.

Sunday was typical football day at the Delanty's where we spend most of the day trying to keep babygirl occupied so we can check fantasy all day. It was fairly successful since she slept most of the morning. We started the Sunday with breakfast at Bob Evan's after mass. It was quite the little family morning. Again, she couldn't partake in our favorite breakfast foods, but we all had a good time nonetheless.

Last night was a little rough in that I have acquired a lovely cold and am sleepier than usual because of it (that and all the work on the new business initiative) so that made it extra hard when BG decided to wake up at 2:45am. We've been so lucky with her sleeping through the night lately, but she was very hungry. I fed her 4 ounces and she went back down until almost 7:30am. We're still trying to get her on a good day schedule with naps, but, the nights are still easy. She goes down to sleep without a fight and if she does wake to eat, it is usually a quick feed and back to bed.

Well, I guess it's back to work as this has somewhat helped me to revive myself. On a plus side I won my fantasy football game yesterday beating out li'l g and bringing me to 8-1 and we won 2-3 in volleyball solidifying our playoff status. I love playing volleyball - I missed it so much. I love the game itself and the exercise and just the time. It's awesome that we made the playoffs - now we just gotta win the whole thing! Happy Tuesday to all.

Spooky Halloween Babies

 
Okay, so they're not as scary as they are adorable... We had a great Halloween, although I'm not so sure babygirl loves this holiday yet. Mommy made her put black stuff on her face and wear a bright orange outfit with way too big of a hood. She wasn't happy about it some of the time.

As you can see, her pal Matthew was an adorable pony. I am assured he is not taking after his Uncle Tommy, though, and will not be playing with little pink pony dolls anytime soon. You can see all of the pics and commentary on the Halloween festivities at delanty.shutterfly.com. (Link is on the nav bar on the right!)


As for other news in the Delanty household - Bridget is still sleeping almost through the night on a consistent basis. We're keeping our fingers crossed, but hoping this continues because it is soooooo... nice!

I am back working full time (have been working part time since she was born practically - a downside to working for yourself and owning your own biz) and for now we are making it work with help from my dad one day a week and squeezing time in whenever I can. Sometimes that means waiting until Tim gets home and working nights and weekends, but for now it is working okay. I like being back in the work world. I love the time I spend with babygirl, but I love designing (imagine that..) and working with clients, so I like that I can balance out the two quite effectively...at least for now. I am also working on another business idea (again, imagine that..) for the holiday season, so that is taking some time to try and throw together immediately. I'll post the site and idea when I get it completed. Hopefully this weekend.

Mom and Dad's lakehouse is also coming along nicely. I am so excited about it as I think it will be an awesome family and friend place to go and relax or just get away. I also have a few new pictures of it posted on my shutterfly site. See the links on the right to get to the shutterfly area. Anyway, hopefully by late winter or early spring we'll be able to start spending the night or weekends down there. At this point, there is only one bedroom ready so it's not too feasible to stay overnight. It will be a lot of fun, though!

Well, that's all for today. I am up very early since today babygirl did decide to wake up at 4:30am. She went back to sleep, but I figured as long as I was up I could get some work done and update the blog! Happy Friday to all! 

Cardinals are WORLD CHAMPIONS!

Well, I can't believe it, but the Cardinals won the World Series! Tim was out of town in Kansas City for work, so that really stunk, but babygirl and I watched the Redbirds win with Mom and Becky. Well, babygirl didn't really see the end or care all that much, but the rest of us were VERY excited. We won after we went up 4-2 in the 8th inning and then Wainwright came in and got the last three outs. He did make it interesting by walking a batter and letting a run score, but nonetheless got a strikeout to win the game! It was the best feeling in the world watching that swing and miss! It was a little weird not sharing it with Tim, Mark or Dad, my three main sports influences in this world, but still very exciting and fun to watch with mom and Beck.

In addition to that exciting news, babygirl has also started sleeping for extremely long chunks of time. I'm not sure exactly why or how long it will last, but for the last 4 nights she's slept from about 10:30 to almost 8am. It's so amazing! I won't get my hopes up, but it is a very nice surprise that came out of nowhere! She is also very mellow these days. Again, kinda came out of nowhere... but we'll take it.

We're going to head down to the Cardinals victory parade today hopefully so that will be fun. The weather was miserable for the series, but for the parade today it is supposed to be 70 and sunny!

That's all for now. Congrats to the CARDINALS!!! Go Webmasters!

Happy Halloween and GO CARDS!

This is just one of the 100 plus pictures I took of Baby Girl for our halloween photo shoot. I'll have to post some of the other cute ones on my shutterfly collection soon. I just thought it was too cute so I had to post it on the blog.

Well, the weather is terrible, but hopefully tonight will be game 5 of the world series. I don't think it will get rained out, so that will be fun, but it's weird that we may win the world series tonight and I won't even be with Tim. He is in Kansas City for work and he'll probably watch it with Molly and work people. Oh well, at least Baby Girl and I can celebrate. It's not too bad to have a world series only two months into your life. Hopefully she will get to see more of them when she actually realizes the importance of the situation!

That's all for now - GO CARDS!!