We had a great time today with Arden, except for the mommy-mistake of letting Arden eat ice cream cake with her hands. Ice cream cake tends to be cold (hello - it’s frozen), so after a few minutes, her hands were frozen too and she started screaming. Aunt Dana fed her the rest of her cake after we had calmed her down and she was fine. We got some hilarious pictures of her and she received lots of nice presents, including some humorous ones - like the shirt the Bliss Family sent that says “I found my prince - his name is Daddy!” How true, how true.

Gramp was here from Pinehurst, the Vozar family came, Aunt Dana and Uncle Richard, Grammy and Grampa, Steve, Vicki & Katie - and even Jennifer with little Sophia. I was trying not to crack up when she came through the door - all the women and some of the men started forming a circle around her and the baby like a pack of hungry wolves. She was backing up slowly . . . I kept expecting her to hold up Purell in the shape of a crucifix to fend them off. Sophia is so little and sweet that it takes much self-control to not want to scoop her up. Jennifer did a good job of not being overprotective but keeping Sophia close and calm. Even though we didn’t have a ton of people here, my family is LOUD. And the kids were hopped up on sugar and roaming around.

Saturday we went to Chesterfield Berry Farm and did the hayride and pumpkin patch thang. Unfortunately, Lily was in one of her “no, I won’t!” moods about everything - including riding the kiddie barrel train, getting her face painted, riding the ponies, or playing in the hay field. Oh well. Better luck next year. Hayden had a great time and Arden really enjoyed watching everyone else and being carted around in the front pack on Daddy.

It was nice to have a fun, activity-filled weekend - took my mind off all the crap that happened on Friday. Our new third-floor tenant across from our office is a complete nut case. We had an altercation over her long-haired chihuahua, which she has been bringing to work with her. All of you who know me also know that I love dogs. I don’t love dogs that bark constantly in my office space, or chase me down the hall, or creep up behind me when I’m on the phone and start barking insanely when I move. Needless to say, after the extent of the altercation, our impossible parking situation, and a variety of other factors, we’re moving. I hit the wall. Three months worth of work stress, feeling like a bad mommy for working full-time, missing Jennifer, worrying about Sophia, and working like a maniac caught up with me. The project from hell was not resolved on Friday and the thought of coming back to it this coming week was almost more than I could bear.

Today, however - being with my family, seeing how happy Arden is, realizing that a year of her life has already gone by - it put things in perspective. It didn’t erase any of the stress or worry, but it alleviated the importance of all the other crap. Nothing else is all that earth-shattering or important. So our office space isn’t working out. I hire a mover, the mover comes, puts our stuff in storage, and around January we figure out where we’re going. In the meantime, we save some money on rent, I work from home and save money on gas, and everything in time will fall back into place. I think eventually I’ll catch up on my work, start sleeping at night, and have more weekends like this one where I blow off really cleaning to house and spend a lot of time with the kids having fun.

Judi greeted me at the door tonight with wry look on her face. Arden MAYBE took an hour nap today. She put her in her usual crib, in the room with Noah. 30 minutes later, Arden had taught Noah (who is 2 years old) how to screech at the top of his lungs and they were kicking their legs and making a ruckus on their respective mattresses. Judi had to separate Arden again and put her in her own room so that the rest of the kiddies could sleep. She said they made so much noise, you could hear them upstairs.

I suggested that she not bother with a morning nap since Arden rarely takes them and to put her down around 12.30 or 1 pm, and see if she fares better. That’s what we do and normally Arden sleeps at least a couple of hours. She’s going to try it tomorrow. Arden is way too young to only be sleeping an hour a day! Needless to say, I’ve heard not one word from her bedroom tonight - I think she passed out immediately. We are fortunate, knock on wood, that she doesn’t seem to get really crabby when she’s tired. She just gets a little slap happy and makes a lot of noise. Lily, on the other hand, is uber-crabby when she doesn’t get enough sleep.

Lily’s birthday party this year is going to be at Romp n’ Roll. I told all the adults to bring ear plugs - it’s going to be mass insanity. We expect between 15 and 25 3-year olds roaming around on their gym equipment, hopped up on sugar and hyperactivity, with Rompie the Dog leading them in song and dance. Should be lots of fun!

The project from hell continues, but will hopefully be over tomorrow. Or very, very soon. It’s one of those projects that the mere thought of it makes my stomach turn. All I can do is try to advocate for my client, who is also my friend, in the hopes that she gets some money back from the vendors involved. Speaking of projects, our new website is supposed to launch tomorrow. I was hoping it would launch today, but alas, it did not. It’s been a work in progress for the past six months are we are very proud of the final product. I’m just trying to stay focused on the positive at work instead of worrying about all the things I may not be doing. I miss Jennifer - a lot.

I’m at Jennifer’s house with Sara, visiting Jenn and looking adoringly at Sophia and sporadically checking email. Jennifer took the opportunity to run out to Sam’s Club to pick up 5 rolls of film she’s been meaning to develop. On one of the rolls, there were pictures of Lily - these were taken when Jennifer was first on bed rest at home. Lily tried to cheer her up by wearing the smiley faces. I think it worked, for the moment!

Last night we went to dinner with the girls and my parents. Arden is no longer the calm one. Now that she is standing and pulling up, she is no longer content to sit around and eat her food placidly. She was screeching, waving, clapping and making a ton of noise. I think she was even wilder than Lily last night. We had a good time and she got to spend some time with her grandparents.

This weekend we’re celebrating Arden’s birthday. The Asheboro clan is coming up and we’re going to the Pumpkin Patch/Hayride Extravaganze at Chesterfield Berry Farm on Saturday morning. Sunday is Arden’s party - we’ll enjoy watching her smash cake into her face.

Hopefully the kitchen will be done. Steve has been working like a maniac to finish up the countertops - it looks really good. If not, we’ll just have to use the sink in the half bath to clean up!

My baby is 1! I guess that means she’s not my baby anymore. I took Lily and Arden to McDonald’s last night to celebrate. They both had a great time. Arden is too little to go on the play equipment but she loves to look at all the people and especially the other children.

Judi bought her what could possibly be the world’s most annoying toy, but it’s really cute - it’s this monkey that rolls around on the floor (Arden chases it) and makes monkey sounds and sings weird songs. I was already told by Judi I wasn’t allowed to bring it to Mom and Dad’s house (aka, the land of toys we hate).

More later . . .

We actually went out tonight with the Pilcs - who possibly needed a night out more than we did. Or definitely needed it. We had dinner at a swanky restaurant (not a high chair in sight!), went to a photography show at a gallery, and lingered over food, the majority of which we could not pronounce.

Mom and dad stayed with the girls and had a great time with them. Both girls were in rare form tonight. Arden, after 5 days straight of being the center of the universe was completely fired up, screeching and flapping and waving at anyone who would catch her eye, smiling and giggling, and into everything. Lily convinced my mom to let her take a bath in “mommy’s big bathtub” when they got home from Ukrops. Apparently mom didn’t wash her hair like I do - she informed her that “no, don’t do it that way - mommy does it like this and does a really good job.” She proceeded to demonstrate on Grammy’s head how to wash hair. Mom was using her nails to scrub the shampoo in - I guess I just use my fingertips. Picky, picky! She also told mom, while sitting on the toilet, that “actually, I’m big enough to get on the potty without my stool, but I’m still too little for my feet to touch.” Actually??? Where does this stuff come from? They all had a great time.

Lily is doing exceptionally well at preschool and is happier than I’ve ever seen her. I keep reiterating this fact, but it’s so reassuring to me. She loves her teachers, she loves the other kids, she’s always excited about the things they are doing at school, and she appears to be learning a lot (including lots of new vocabulary words, most good - some not so hot).

Lily’s report card from today:

“Lily’s favorite word was “no!” but she was so cute it was hard to get mad. She has also decided that in the near future, she will never eat salad and she wants to go to the moon.” I guess she inherited her mother’s distaste for iceberg lettuce. They are having “vegetable” week at school and reading books called things like “The Enormous Carrot” and having veggie tasting parties. Today they made a salad - hence the anti-lettuce stance.

An excerpt from a conversation with Lily yesterday:

Mommy: “What did you guys do at school today? Ms. Hood said you learned about cows!”
Lily: “No, mommy - we MILKED the cow.”
Mommy: “You did? How cool! Did you like it?”
Lily: “mmmm-HMMMM! And guess what mommy! Did you know that um…um…that um…milk comes from the cow’s butt?”
Mommy: “I don’t think so, Lily.”
Lily: “Yes, IT DOES, MOMMY!!!”
Mommy: “I think it comes from the udder. Is that what you mean?”
Lily: “mmmm-HMMMM! Da udder. And the milk comes out of the cow’s butt.”

end excerpt.