Happy six months and one day baby girl!

Yesterday, the twentieth, was Iris' six month birthday. Lucky for her since we don't have insurance right now, she didn't get three shots in the leg. She is teething, though there are no teeth poking through yet. She feels them though because she now makes this "monkey face" feeling her gums with her tongue and thus poking her bottom lip out. It's quite cute.

I can't believe how much fun she is becoming. When I pick her up she puts her arms around my neck. Sometimes when I'm holding her she grins and buries her face in my chest or my shoulder, as if things are just too funny and she can't take it anymore. She grabs at our faces, often holding onto my lip or my chin. I like the way her small palm feels pressed against my chin. This week she has added green beans to her new food tastes. They were a hit. This Sunday we will add a new vegetable, possibly carrots? We actually stocked up at the grocery store and bought a weeks worth of everything they had in first foods because they had a sale.

Chris has another job interview at Duluth on Monday. I'm so excited! They must really be interested to see him so many times. I turned in my application for Circ. Supervisor on Thursday. I don't think there are any other internal applicants, unless someone else turned one in late. They are still advertising it in the papers and in the inter-library email. I get an automatic interview because I am internal. So, that will be some time after the 3rd of Feb. There is even space open at daycare for extra hours, so everything is sort of falling into place. I really want this job. It's 30 hours a week and $15.99 an hour. Weeee. Plus it's the only management job at the library that doesn't require a masters degree.

The other day I saw a beautiful sunset out the door on the second floor. I came downstairs to snap a few shots. It was more beautiful through my eyes. It looks more like spring than the middle of January. Even the tempurature has been decidedly spring-like. Luckily, and some may disagree with me, it snowed last night. Thus restoring winter to the area. The state of the weather nowadays really does alarm me. The tornados are much more frequent than they were, and there really isn't that much snow. Snow, that incedently would be insulating my perennials and other less cold hardy plants against the cold that will invariably return this winter. Spring is on it's way... I know because the seed and plant catalogues have begun to arrive.

Here is a shot of last night's snow. Chris actually measured it on the table, 5 inches. It's very pretty while it lasts and because there was no wind, or rain it is all still coating all the tree limbs in my overgrown back yard. Winter wonderland again. Yay.

We have all been really sick all week. Seriously the worst cold I have had in many years. Iris had the saddest little baby cough. Breaks your heart to hear it. So we've had the humidifier on at night, as well as saline spray for her little nose, Vicks baby rub, her mattress propped at one end and judicious use of the bulb syringe ( aka snot sucker). Fortunately we are all on the mend. I was sickest first, so I think I feel the best so far, but Chris never whines about being sick as much as me... So I think he's feeling pretty good as well. I hope to get to the stairs this weekend... But I just don't know if it will happen... Maybe by Wednesday.

~Cya later.

The weeks happenings.

Well, not a whole heck of a lot.

Iris has a cold which , thankfully, is nearly done. I got her cold, and now Chris has it too. Don't come to our house, it's dangerous.

On Wednesday I painted the first 5 stair risers. Hopefully this weekend sometime I'll do the other ones that go up from the landing. Plus I should do a secont coat on the first five as well. I like it, it really give the stairs some depth. It's much more architectural than it was before. We also have plans to paint the gross faux wood panel board that is trying to be wainscoting until we can take it down and put up real wainscoating sometime in the distant future.

Yes, that is a gnome.

Iris had her first vegetable this week when we started squash. She loved it. She seems to like food in general and stares at us expectantly whenever we are eating, especially food in bowls. I think we are going to try greenbeans this week.



We all went to Madison to apply for a passport for Iris since we are going to Canada in March and you need them to travel with a baby so they don't think you are kidnapping them. Her little head is so funny in the photo they took. Pictures are over twice as expensive at the passport office as they are at Walgreens, just FYI, but we wanted to make sure they were done correctly. Chris got his passport renewel forms and put them in the mail. Passports last so much longer here than they do in Canada. There is no such thing as passport renewal there, and they are only good for 5 years, instead of the ten they are in the US. *cha-ching.

That's it for now.

Look at this big girl!

My daughter can sit up! Well, we have to place her in a sitting position and she has a tendancy to either make face plants or flop backwards. Part of the time she uses her arms and can hold herself up. It's pretty cool. She's a total wonder! (as Kevin would say)

Today we had plans to go grocery shopping which never ended up happening because during the first time after a feeding Chris and I were really hungry and the second time I was so tired I had to scoop the baby up and take her for a nap along with me in the big bed. So we didn't introduce a new food like we had previously planned.


We were asleep before Chris came back upstairs after scheduling a second interview at Duluth Trading Company. It was maybe ten minutes. She sleeps so well in our bed, if we were co-sleeping she would have been sleeping for 12 hours a night. I swear! We took a two hour nap like it was nothing. Nothing like a little baby breathing to lull one to sleep. Sort of like there's nothing like a baby's laugh to make you smile. I really don't think I have heard anythign more wonderful.

I have not painted any stairs yet. I have removed staples, sanded andwiped everythign down to get rid of all the dust. Although, with three cats, the dust bunnies seem to multiply rather quickly. Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to get the painting done.



I had more to write, but I can't remember right now. *figures
Here is Iris with a piece of pink yarn tied around her head. This was much to the chagrin of her father who is vehemently opposed to headbands of any sort when a head does not have any hair to hold back.

A new year.

I've never been one for resolutions and this year is no different. I don't see why at one specific part of the year you decide to do things that you could have been doing all along.

Here I am on the morning of the first day of 2006. I'm dressed to finish up pulling staples out of the stair risers, followed by sanding and possibly today- painting. I'll post pictures when we are done. Chris noted that he now has several new painting shirts, refering to all the uscelluar logo'd apparel he's aquired over the years.

Last night Chris and I enjoyed the new years eve picnic basket that Fran and Dick gave us at Christmas. It really is the most fun way to eat... To graze. There were fancy mixed nuts, an italian salami, smoked salmon, crackers, fancy cheese spread and of course a great bottle of pink champagne. We watched a movie, ( mediocre) gave the baby a bath( in the middle of watching the movie) and then more snacking and the rest of the champagne. Somehow we ( mostly me, Chris stays up late most nights) managed to stay up till midnight. Chris resolved to be employed in 2006 ( heh). An odd resolution.

I got my truck back this week after it being away for a week. $568.00 later... The bright side I suppose is that I had like $2500 of work done on it because of the recalls.

My computer speakers are making a tapping noise. It is very annoying.

Iris started out 2006 right by rolling over from her tummy to her back for the first time.. that we had seen anyway.She also can sit up by herself for short periods of time. I imagine she'd be better at it if I were a better parent and did more tummy time, floor time etc. I'm still adjusting, or so I say, to this parenting thing. I should probably be doing more. She is a very good baby though, happy and growing! I really want to know how much she weighs.
Here I am feeding Iris her first rice cereal. She has now moved on to oatmeal, which she seems to prefer. Next week we will probably introduce some sort of fruit or vegetable. It is so cool to watch her eat. She "knows" how to do it. Like she was born to eat... oh wait... :D
Here is Iris inspecting her pacifier seconds after yanking it from her own mouth. Isn't she beautiful! * Sighs the proud parent.

This will be a very exciting year for Iris.. and her parents. We'll be seeing everything through new eyes. I hope everyone can look at things with fresh eyes also.

*cheers

[This post was made under duress following threats by evil friend and fellow blogger Madame DeBarge.]