GO Donk!

I'm so proud of my baby sister.

I have been telling her for awhile now that she could be a model. Finally, she decided (with much coaxing from our auntie, and other people) that she maybe, just maybe, could be. So she went to Mode Models. She got an audition/interview-type thingie, and they liked her. She was nervous as heck, but it went well. A few weeks after that, they had her do a practice photo shoot. She said it went awesome and that they seemed to like her.

She was so eager, and couldn't wait to hear back. Today, she finally heard back.

My sister, ladies and gentlemen ... is going to be a model. They are signing her!!! I'm SO stoked!

So, you see, I'm super proud of Molly.

She has been really ... fretting her graduation. She graduates in June, and I think it's been getting to her. She is fearing it because she didn't really have any plans for what comes next. Some people have told her she has to figure it out, while I've been telling her there is no rush. I told her not to go to college for something she isn't positive she wants to do ... and to wait and go to college when she knows for sure. No point in wasting time and money just to find out that isn't what you want.

But modelling? Modelling she can do. It's so awesome that she has a goal, and even more awesome that she is fulfilling it ... before she even graduates! She still has plans to finish school, but now, when she is done, she can model! At least until she knows what she wants to do with her whole life. And heck ... if she wants to model for a long time, and does a damn good job at it ... well ... GO DONK!



Here is a picture of Molly, edited by yours truly.

Travel Systems

At work, we have a lot of travel systems. You know ... the stroller/infant seat combos. I think we have like 6, maybe 7, different ones.

Anyway ... the number of travel systems we have has nothing to do with this post.

In a regular shift at work, I see a lot of people pushing their baby around in a travel system. Often they have a little baby in there ... brand new, one month, two months old ... but other times ... they have an older baby in there -- we're talkin' seven, eight ... even nine months old.

I don't get it.

I understand the convenience of the travel systems ... that you can just click the carseat out of the car when your baby is sleeping, and just click them in the stroller, but ... to do that ALL the time just seems silly to me! A baby who's old enough to sit up on their own does not want to be strapped down in a laying position when they're going to be stuck that way for an hour or more while their parents shop! It just seems cruel to me! I don't think that lots of first-timers realize that you CAN use your stroller without the infant seat, even if your baby still has to ride in said infant seat in the car. The stroller DOES have a five-point harness, or whatever it's called, and it's just as safe for them to ride in -- and just as easy for them to sleep in, for that matter -- as the infant seat itself.

So silly ... but it really bugs me!

Sometimes, when I'm talking to parents and they say the baby riding in the travel system is 8 or 9 months, I just want to say "You know ... he'd probably be perfectly happy riding in just the stroller."

Do you think they'd find it rude? Hm ...

Aden's Bedroom

Since Richard is apparently too busy watching Spectacular Spiderman to talk about this with me, I'm blogging. Yes, Spectacular Spiderman is apparently much too important (even though I'VE even see this one before) to listen to what I have to say.

I'm on this new thing where I'm going to try (operative word here being "try") to clean something every day that I'm not working. Today, I tidied the living room -- something that needed desperately to happen. Tomorrow ... well, I won't be doing anything as we'll be out all day ... and Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday are all work days ... so uh ... on WEDNESDAY, I'll probably tackle the bathroom or something.

Aaaaaanyway ... rambling on, here. I plan on eventually getting Aden's room in a state that makes it possible to get a big boy bed. As of right now, his room is a war zone. There's his crib, his dresser, and his ball pit (the huge waste of space his dear Grandma got him for his birthday) ... and a bunch of other crap. There are boxes stacked up at the end of his bed, sheets on the floor that either have to be washed or put away, snow suits that have to go in the closet, and random other odds and ends ... just all in the way.

First, I'm going to wash the sheets that need to be washed, and put away the ones that are already clean. The snow suits will be put in the upstairs closet, since that is obviously the best place for them. The ball pit and balls will be staying put, because there is NO way it's coming upstairs and taking up more space than Aden's toys already need to be taking up. The box of books can stay put, because it's on top of a bin where he can reach them ... and it's too heavy to be of danger. The other boxes stacked at the end of his bed are a real challenge. I need to find a home for them, or a home for all of the things inside them. I can probably fit a few in his closet, and find a suitable home for the others -- there aren't a whole ton of them that would make the job impossible. THEN, I have to get something to anchor his dresser to the wall. We have anchor things at my work that are just like the ones you get sometimes with dressers -- we had one from either my dresser or Aden's dresser, and we just threw it out. We shouldn't have, because turns out Aden's dresser is easily toppleable. He pulls out the bottom three drawers (because he can't reach the first one), and the thing just wobbles. Yeah ... not exactly the kind of thing I want happening when he can easily get in and out of his own bed!

When all of that is said and done, we'll be (hopefully) getting Aden a big boy bed! He is 19 months now, and I think he's almost ready for one. While he still does have a tendency to get around in his sleep, he is pretty good at staying on his pillow at night and keeping his blanket on too -- he thinks it's really fun to lay on his pillow and pull his blanket up. So I think, provided there are no dangers to him being in his room alone, that he could do quite well with a big boy bed. As long as none of those boxes are there to topple over, and his dresser can't be pulled down, it's all good.

Hopefully I don't lose motivation. I don't want to have to wait until we get a 3-bedroom place with more storage -- at this rate, that could be forever -- in order for him to get to grow up.

Another Post About Baby Fevah

We finally got to meet our new niece today. She is SUCH an angel. She looks like a miniature version of her big sister ... just with lots more fuzzy hair! I held her as long as I could while we were over at Richard's parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner (oh, happy Thanksgiving, by the way!), and she just slept ... and when she wasn't sleeping, she was just staring at me.

GOD, SHE WAS CUTE.

Here is Olivia Mackenzie:

She's such a sweetie! Holding her made my baby fever come out in full force, though, of course. I cannot wait to get working on another one. Olivia is just so tiny and delicate and adorable. Soooo sweet ...

Oh, also, my brother Tom got married yesterday! It was a beautiful wedding, and everyone looked great. Here's Tom and his new wife, Trenna:

Baby Fever, No More!

Tonight, for the first time in a long time, I didn't have to deal with baby fever at work. AT ALL. I know, right? Shocking.

And do you know why I didn't have to deal with that B.S. tonight? Because today I got a wonderful phone call. You see, back in, oh ... August ... I got an appointment for a colposcopy booked ... for MARCH of 2010. Ever since hearing that I'd have to wait until March to find out what's wrong with me (and therefore avoid getting pregnant), my baby fever was getting worse and worse.

I told my doctor that I had to wait until March for the appointment ... and he suggested seeing if we could get an appointment with a specialist in another city ... where it would likely be less busy.

Today, that doctor's office called.

Now, instead of March, I have my colposcopy booked for the 27th ... of THIS MONTH!

So, depending on the results of said colposcopy, I could still be pregnant by 2010 ... which would be AWESOME. So, my night at work tonight was baby fever-free. It was pretty cool.

So now ... I just have to hope the results are okay and I don't have to postpone baby #2 further.

Don't Be Jealous ... Don't Be Jealous ...

Richard's sister, Jenn, had her second daughter on the 27th. Olivia Mackenzie is her name. I'm sure you know where I'm going with this already ... but I'll continue.

I was just looking at Jenn's album on facebook, of 99 photos of Olivia. She is precious. She looks a lot like her sister, Madison (who is going to be 2 in December), only with dark hair -- Madison had pretty much no hair at birth, and her hair is now very light blonde. Jenn and Chad have two very beautiful little girls.

Not gonna lie ... as happy as I am for them, I'm crazy jealous. Shocking, I know. They have two gorgeous girls, perfectly spaced age-wise ... and Jenn had such an easy birth, or so I hear. Only a few hours, no complications ... and she's up and about already. So there it is ... two reasons I'm jealous.

I'm doing my best to hide my jealousy, though. We have yet to go see the baby, since I had a cold a few days ago and Jenn is paranoid of that ... and now I have some sort of stomach bug, and of course we won't be visiting until that's gone -- I wouldn't appreciate someone with a stomach bug coming to see my newborn! I'm sure it'll be hard to go see her ... but at least we can go there often and I can fulfill my baby needs that way ... or something along those lines. Ha ha!