Tennessee

At the end of July, we went on our first family trip, Andrew's first plane ride. He did so good on the plane and throughout the whole trip. He was such a happy baby the whole time, he even slept good.

We stayed in a cabin in Pigeon Forge, TN with Mike's dad, his wife, aunt and uncle. And since it was the Dunn's annual family reunion. we saw other family members as well. Last year Andrew was in the spica cast so we couldn't make it. I wish we could see them more often.

I think what I'll remember the most is playing boardgames, it was so much fun! We played Aggravation and Sequel, fun easy games. We also went to the Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg and ate lots of southern food.

We had such a great time, it really was a vacation. I've heard so many horror stories of babies and vacations, but Andrew was great and we were able to relax for a few days. We would have stayed longer, but Mike had to fly to Oregon for work and I had to fly back with Andrew for his surgery.

It's been a while!

Hello there, I can't believe it's been 3 months! Where should I even begin?

February- We lost a dear friend in my crunchy mommy community. It's still very hard to believe she is gone. I saw her a few days before at a cloth diaper playdate, before she had the stroke. Her sons name is also Andrew. We miss you Susan! :(

March- Andrew's pins came out, he did good. He was on hands and knees just a few days after the surgery... my crazy little boy. We went back for his post op and things were looking good. Our next appointment is in a year. Hoping everything keeps developing correctly.

April- My mom was here for a couple of weeks. She was able to spend Easter with us. It went by too fast. We also had lots of 1st birthday parties to attend, it was fun! I have met lots of moms and babies through playdates and mom groups. Andrew finally got his 2 top teeth at around 16 or 17 months. He also knows how to sit up by himself.

We got offered free Kindermusik classes. I really like them, more than Gymboree. The instructor Holly is amazing. Andrew has such a good time there, it is so good for him too. We got offered the scholarship again for the summer semester. I'm excited, can't wait to start again :)

May- Andrew turned 18 months (1.5 years). He also recently started crawling a bit. I'm so proud of him! His preferred method of transportation is still rolling though...lazy kid! He still receives physical and speech therapy. He likes pulling up on things, so far only into kneeling position. But at least he puts weight when in standing position now. Slow progress, but we are getting there.

We still have feeding issues. He doesn't eat much solids and won't eat real food yet. He weighs around 17 lbs right now. According to a blood allergy test he is allergic to walnuts, peanuts, wheat, eggs and dog dander. I still think he has a dairy sensitivity. Ever since I limited dairy to only that in the Pediasmart, he isn't as itchy. He gets a bit of hemp milk and coconut milk yogurt, both diary free.

We are finally starting occupational therapy this week, we'll see how that goes. We also went to see an urologist yesterday. The bad news is that he will need yet another surgery. His testicles never descended and at this point, they aren't coming down on their own. I just need to schedule it :(

It seems like things have been hard again. Andrew has been extra cranky lately. I did notice that one of his molars is starting to break through, so maybe that explains the crankiness? I just want a vacation. I feel like I'm tired all the time. His sleeping is random, some good nights (still waking up to eat) and some bad nights.

Anyway, I think that's basically whats been going on around here. Mike's latest hobby is playing with his new synthesizer and learning about music. Lily lost her winter coat and has fleas. And I've actually been reading again, crafting here and there. I'll try not to disappear for so long! Find me on Instagram, we android users finally have it :)

Let's Catch up!

We had a quiet Christmas just the three of us, grandma was sick. Here's a cute picture since I haven't update my blog since then. It felt like Andrew's first Christmas to us :)

Andrew is sitting for longer periods of time now, but he still doesn't catch himself when he falls. We are working on it. The helmet is off! He outgrew it. I don't really see a big difference, which is disappointing. He is just developing very slowly, so he didn't progress much.

We had a few months of bad spitting up and vomiting. His GI put him on Zantac for now and it has really helped. No more vomiting. He's having an upper gi done next week, so we can see if there is anything going on. We also went to a really nice ENT. I'm trying a nasal spray for the congestion he always has. He also has fluid in his ears, we might look into getting tubes.

His surgery for the pin removal from his hip is scheduled for March 9th. I'm nervous and anxious. I hope the recovery is easy and that he isn't in too much pain. I'm mostly afraid of the news they might give us on how his hips are doing. I'm praying for good news.

His first tooth finally broke through this week! At almost 15 months old. Also, thanks to GetPumped, I have enough breastmilk to give Andrew for a few weeks. He also eats a bit of oatmeal in the mornings with pureed fruits and veggies. I also started giving him PediaSmart. He is still not interested in real food.

Mike moved to a cool new office. They have a whole building to themselves. They also grill almost everyday for lunch, so lucky! The bad thing about the new office is having just one car. I drop him off in the morning if I need the car that day. He is also very much into video games lately...oh and politics :S

I finally have more mommy friends and regular playdates, which makes me very happy! I've been having a few Etsy sales lately. I want to introduce prints of my paintings soon. I've also been making flower felt hair clips, but haven't had time to add them to my shop. I recently cut my hair the shortest I've ever had it. I had to buy an iron, because I don't like the way my curls are behaving. 

I will try to update more often so my posts aren't super long. I also need to take more pictures with my "big" camera. Speaking of photos, there are A LOT of mommy photographers around. I would like to take photos of events or parties. I took some of our babywearing anniversary playdate and everyone loved them. Hopefully I'll have the chance to do it more often, maybe for a small fee? 

Counting down the days...

I guess I will start where I left off last time. My dad came to visit and it went by too quickly, I still can't believe he was actually here. We were able to go to Disney World. We went to Epcot for most of the day, and then to Magic Kingdom for a couple of rides and the light parade. Andrew did so good! He was looking at everything. The only thing that sucked was that I was feeling sick that day and it was really hot. My parents had a good time too :)

 On June 3rd, Andrew had his surgery. This time, our morning went by smoothly. I found out I could feed him 4 hrs before the surgery if it was breast milk. I'm still mad that no one mentioned this last time, he cried so much from going so many hours without eating! They didn't take blood from him this time either, so that was good. When it was time for them to take him, he was awake and happy at least.

The first night at the hospital was rough. Mike went home to take care of our pup and my mom spent the first night with me. It seemed like Andrew cried or complained all night... poor baby was in pain, even with the pain medication. We were supposed to check out the next day, but they didn't have the special car seat ready for us. I think it worked out, because Andrew was still very delicate. So we stayed a second night at the hospital, this time my mother in law stayed with me.

He will be in the cast for a little over 6 weeks, but I think I will try to get an appointment a little earlier. He already smells really bad! I don't know if it was the anesthesia effect but, he had really runny poop for the first weeks, meaning, he got it all over the cast right away :( And speaking of poop, he is now back to being constipated. We already had switched his formula before the surgery and was doing fine, so maybe it's because of the cast, which is common.

My mom has been great help. The first few weeks were rough, it seems like this week he has been doing a lot better. He still doesn't really sleep well though. This time, the cast is a lot looser than the first one. They put 2 pins in his hip, which will come out in a few months. On the side of the good hip, the cast only goes down to his knee.

(During his therapy)

He started his physical therapy a few weeks ago too. He is doing good and hopefully once the cast comes off, he will do even better. We are having a hard time making our insurance pay for the helmet he needs. We are doing everything possible to help him, but because of the casts and harness, we are limited to how we can position him when he is on his back, which is what the stupid insurance doesn't understand I guess. I don't think they have bothered to read about the rest of his issues.

Well enough of that! I will try to come back here more often, it's just hard to get on an actual computer now that we only have one desktop at home. Thank goodness for my smart phone. Oh! I also found a group here in Orlando of baby wearing mommies. They have different carriers I can rent or try out and they seem really nice, I can't wait to meet them.

(Hat my mom made)

6 Months

Lots of things to update on, mostly on how Andrew is doing. He turned 6 months old on May 13th. We had our geneticist appointment last month and she was surprised on how well he is doing. I guess I haven't mentioned it on here but, Andrew has a chromosomal abnormality. It is rare, so we don't know exactly how it will affect him. The problems he has are most likely because of this. More specifically, he has a translocation; he is missing part of chromosome 21q and has an extra part of chromosome 10q. 

He is still a small baby and is a little developmentally delayed in his motor skills. The geneticist also noticed he had torticollis, and because of this, his head is flat on one side. She referred us to a Pediatric Neurosurgeon. The geneticist also told us about Early Steps, which is a program for kids with special needs or who are developmentally delayed. We are going to get free physical therapy through them and the best part is that they come to our house and do the therapies :)

I took Andrew to the Neurosurgeon and he does think he needs a helmet to "fix" the flatness in his head (positional plagiocephaly). Right now we're just waiting to hear back from the helmet place and see if our insurance is going to cover it. His hip surgery is scheduled for June 3rd, a week from today :( 

My mom arrived here on Tuesday, she will be staying with us to help us out while Andrew is in the spica cast. And my dad, who I haven't seen in 6 years, is coming to meet the baby! He gets here Sunday night and is staying for just a few days, I'm very happy and excited. I was thinking of going to Disney World with my parents and the baby next week, I hope it's not too much for the baby, we'll see...

In other not so medical news, my sweet baby is doing good, no more crying non stop, and until recently, he finally stopped fighting bath time, we are still dealing with his eczema though. He makes lots of cute little noises, he is very curious and looks at everything. He loves playing under his little gym. He rolls from his back to tummy and tummy to back. The only thing we still have a hard time with is tummy time, he doesn't really try to push himself up, he just lays there and then cries when he's had enough. we have tried different things and no luck. We will be working on this when his therapy starts, which should be soon.

I'm still trying to get him used to being worn on the ergo carrier, he tolerates it sometimes for short periods of time. I really want to try other carriers, like a Baby Hawk or a Pikkolo. I also started using cloth diapers part time. I bought some gDiapers for now, but I think I want another kind of cloth diapers. He can't use cloth while in the cast, but I want to start using cloth more after it comes off. Well, that's it for now. All pictures were taken on his 6 month birthday, don't you just love that crazy hair!? 

5 months

Andrew turned 5 months yesterday. I'm so happy to share with you that things are finally getting better. About 3 weeks ago Andrew just stopped crying! I've been enjoying him so much more now, things are easier when he is not crying most of the day. I'm even able to go alone with him shopping and he is happy in his stroller. I really wanted to be the "baby wearing" kind of mom, but he just doesn't like it! 

We had our first sleep over at his grandmas house this past weekend, it was very nice! Everything went smoothly and he even slept most of the night (but now that we are back home, he is back to his "normal" sleeping schedule, yawn!) My mother in law took over baby duty for one of the nights so I finally slept :) 

I've had a little more time to do "me" things. I started painting again for my etsy shop Sugar Village, so I'll be posting new paintings very soon. I also did 2 paintings for Andrew's room. There is a phone picture on my Sugar Village Facebook page if you want to see them. As soon as I'm done with it, I'll post pictures of his room, I just have a couple more things that I need. I also bought this Kolocraft stroller because the little cheap one I had, broke this past weekend. 

We still don't have a date for Andrew's hip surgery, but we have an appointment with his geneticist tomorrow, so we'll see when she thinks he should have it done, it will still be in the next couple of months though. Another thing for which I can't stop smiling; one of my good friends had her first baby, it was a girl. They had a home birth and everyone is doing great! I'm so proud of her :)

Well, that's about all I have for now, I just wanted to thank everyone who has been praying and thinking of us. I'm glad things are getting better, we still have some bad days, but they are rare now. I hope they don't turn bad again when he has his surgery, I better not think about that right now :( 

Motherhood

I've been a mom for a little over 3 months now, and let me tell you, the amount of emotions I have felt in this short period of time, are sometimes overwhelming. Not all of these emotions have been good unfortunately. I have felt so angry, guilty, sad, resentful, etc... it makes me wonder if I'll ever be a good mommy. I need patience, lot's of it.

I feel like something has been going on with my little baby since he was born (NICU, the harness and now the cast) My mom came and left. She was so much help these past 5 weeks. I was able to go to bed with my husband, eat dinner with him, rest, hand the baby over when I had to pump or when I was just plain overwhelmed.

Now we are back to just the 3 of us, still trying to come up with a good routine. Right now, Mike does all the cooking and I do most of the cleaning. I go to bed at around 8pm and Mike stays up with the baby, sometimes the baby will sleep, other times he'll be up. I wake up at around 2am to pump and take over baby duty for the rest of the morning/day. This is the only way we can both get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep, the baby wakes up about every hour at night.

The first few weeks with the cast were very difficult. I wrote that he was crying and spitting up more than usual in my last post, well, it got even worse. Then finally around week 4, he was doing much better. He even started getting more vocal and sort of smiling, here's a video of him in his little "jungle". I still don't think he smiles "on purpose". I finally figured out a way to hold him that would make him burp, and that seemed to help.

(See, told you, rubbing his face. Taken on Feb 11, 13 weeks old)

Since my mom left, it seems like he has gone back to crying a lot again. It's really hard to deal with the crying, especially when you are hungry, probably dirty, have to use the bathroom, tired and nothing seems to soothe the baby, it is such a horrible feeling, I sometimes end up crying with him. We have to keep mittens on him at all times now, because all he wants to do is rub his little face off, it's pretty frustrating. We can't really swaddle him because he gets overheated.

At this point, we have less than 2 weeks to go until they take the cast off. You have no idea how excited I'm! I want to finally bathe him, see his whole precious little body. He is starting to get stinky and he has had a few poop explosions... not good. I will be heartbroken if his hips haven't improved and he needs another cast, I really don't know how I'm going to deal with it. I think the hospital stay and recovering from the anesthesia are the worst parts...I think... the crying is pretty bad too :(

I never imagined this was going to be so hard; physically and emotionally. Mike is pretty positive that once the cast comes off, Andrew will do much better. In the mean time, we are just taking it day by day, enjoying the moments when the baby does seem happy. Thanks to everyone that has been praying and sending good thoughts, I really appreciate it, it really makes me feel a little better.

Our little secret

My baby has hip dysplasia, aka Developmental Dysplasia of the hip (DDH). When he was born, they heard a "hip click". I didn't think anything of it. When we went to our regular pediatrician, he also heard it and gave us a referral to a pediatric orthopedic. Turns out, his hips were dislocated, not really sure what caused it, but it might have been because of my low amniotic fluid during pregnancy.

We didn't want to mention it online or to some of our family members so they wouldn't worry, we were pretty positive it would all be over soon and everything would go back to normal, no need to have everyone stressed out about it.

(Dec 25, 10)

They put him in a pavlik harness for 6 long weeks when he was 2 weeks old. He had to have it on 24/7, which meant limited baths and difficult diaper changes. It was extremely stressful at times. He couldn't wear a lot of the cute clothes that were given to him. And it was hard not talking about it on facebook or twitter.

We had weekly ultrasound and orthopedic appointments to check his progress. About 3 weeks ago, the orthopedic said the hips were improving and to not come back until 2 weeks. I was so excited that for our next appointment, everything would be fine and that he would come off his harness. Well, bad news, no improvement.

The next step was getting him in a spica cast. The whole procedure is called a "closed reduction hip surgery", no actual incision is done, the doctor just manually puts the hip back in place under radiographic control, all done under anesthesia. At least he had a week without the harness or cast.

(Jan 12, bath day since his harness got super dirty I had to wash it)

I was not prepared for this. Why was this happening to us, my poor baby didn't deserve this. Life with a baby is pretty challenging as it is and now all of this? I was so upset! We couldn't keep this a secret anymore, I needed everyones support and I needed to be able to vent online.

The good news is that before we even knew he needed the cast, we had already bought my mom a ticket to come help us out (no, we are still not used to this new baby business). My mom got here this past Wednesday and the baby was scheduled for his "surgery" Friday early morning (Jan 21).

(Enjoying his harness free days by trying out his bumbo for the first time. Jan 16)

Since he had to be put to sleep, he couldn't eat anything past midnight. It was heartbreaking to see him cry and not be able to feed my poor baby. he also spent a night at the hospital for observation. My mom and I were with him. It was hard seeing my little guy with an IV, in a cast (it goes from his chest all the way to his ankles) and of course all the other cables and monitors, back to hearing beeps like when he was in the NICU.

He will be in the cast for 8 weeks. I hope it goes by fast and that this is the last step in fixing this problem. I can't wait for him to have a normal life. There might be another type of harness or brace he has to wear after the cast comes off, we are not sure yet.

Right now, he is doing ok. He has been spitting up and crying a bit more than the usual. So far, diaper changes haven't been as difficult as I thought they would be. He wears a newborn diaper that has to be tucked into the cast, then a bigger one on top of it. He has a pediatrician appointment this week, so we'll see how he's doing.

(This morning, 10 weeks old)

Where do I start?

It's been almost 2 months since I last updated my blog, so lets see, where do I even begin?! The weekend of my birthday (Oct. 18th), my step dad was in town for work, so I got to spend some time with him. My friend Paola (she lives in Cancun) also surprised me and showed up at my house later that same week. A week after my step dad left, my mom got here.

My mom and I started to get crafty so we wouldn't get anxious waiting for baby to make an appearance. She helped me make some felt birds to hang in the nursery. We even made some felt ornaments for my etsy shop :) Once we were on a roll, we also made Christmas bird ornaments, they have cute little Santa hats on.

Weeks went by, I still felt great and even though it was almost my due date, I didn't feel any differently or like the little one wanted to come out anytime soon. Here's a picture of me and my friend Paola, I was 39 weeks I think, ready to pop!

I had two OB appointments once I was 40 weeks, one on a Monday called a biophysical profile, where they just listened to the babys heartbeat for 20 minutes, to make sure he was still doing alright, which he was. Later that same week on Friday they did the non stress test, which was an ultrasound to see how the baby was doing. Turns out I had low amniotic fluid.

I still think it's funny how the ultrasound technician said "looks like you might have your baby today", to which I responded: "I don't think so, I'm going to Ikea tomorrow". So after talking to my OB, she said that we had to induce. Mike and I were pretty much in shock, we just didn't expect things to happen this way.

To be continued...

Home improvements

Things are finally moving along in the home improvement front. Three guys have been to our condo to give us estimates for the little repairs we need and to remodel our bathrooms. I'm still waiting to hear back from one of them though. We also decided to replace our carpet, but that will be the very last thing we do.

The future nursery is still not empty, but at least I posted everything we are trying to sell on craigslist. It's hard for me not to stress out (but I do, a little), I can't wait until they actually start working on our place. We only have about 12 weeks to have everything ready for baby, I really want the new carpet, car seat and baby mattress to air out for as long as possible.

I can't wait for all the home improvements to be done, then I can actually buy the nursery furniture and other big things we'll need. Oh by the way, there is the possibility of my step dad getting a job in Tennessee, if that happens, they would only be 12 hours away from us! I'm pretty excited about that, I really need my parents closer.

Well, that's all that's been going on here. I'm sure our weekend will be filled with many Home Depot and Lowe's trips (good thing both stores are pretty near by). Have a good weekend!

Kentucky

Mike's family reunion was this past weekend in Kentucky. It was nice meeting some of Mike's family (his dad's side) for the first time. It was also my first time in Kentucky. We mostly just hung out at our motel and ate together.

On Saturday, we went to the Natural Bridge Park. We hiked and I got to ride a sky lift for the first time!

On Sunday, we went to the Kentucky Horse Park. We didn't get to see everything because it was pretty hot and I was very tired by then.

But it was a good trip despite the hot weather. We went to the town Mike grew up in... that was cool to see. We also had a surprise baby shower thrown by Mike's step mom. She even got us chocolate cupcakes! Now I have my first sets of adorable baby clothes. This little one is finally starting to feel a bit more real :)

Bittersweet return

I'm always sad and happy at the same time to be coming back "home". When I'm enjoying my family in Mexico, part of me is missing Mike, when I'm here in Orlando, I'm missing my family in Mexico and my mom in CA. I really hope at least my parents move closer to us one day, especially with the baby on the way.

Anyway, I had a great visit. I spent my whole vacation just hanging out with my family, I didn't even do any sightseeing this time. All the pictures I took were of me and my family. I'm usually pretty spoiled when I'm over there, now imagine how spoiled I got by being pregnant. My aunts were busy knitting blankets for the baby and my mom trying to learn how to crochet.

I went to the movies twice, less than $4 each time. I also got a haircut for $4! I got to see some high school friends one night, some of them I haven't seen since high school. I ate yummy food, had lots of fruit they don't even have here and drank fresh coconut water. I started having a weird craving once I was there, I wanted beer... still do, just thinking about a really cold beer with lime and salt makes my mouth water :/

I got to meet a new family member, the baby or toddler I suppose, in the picture. My cousin was pregnant with her last time I was there. I totally fell in love with her, she was so cute, sweet and smart! I miss her already :( She made it really hard to not have a preference to what we have.

Speaking of which, I was supposed to have my first ultrasound this past Wednesday, but Mike switched jobs and we were waiting on insurance stuff, so we had to cancel our appt. So, I'm now 20 weeks pregnant (half way there omg!) and we have out big ultrasound scheduled for tomorrow morning! I don't know if I'll be able to sleep :D

I'm off!

Hi guys! So I think I'm all packed and ready to go. I'll be in Guadalajara, Mexico for a few weeks. As some of you know, my mom lives in California, but she will be in Mexico as well, so I'm super excited to see everyone.

I'll try to update my blog and maybe post some pictures while I'm there. I think I'm mostly going to miss: my air conditioner, Mike, Lily and my bed... yes, probably in that order :) Alright, I have a plane to catch, adios!

Coming this November...

April

Guess what? I finally mailed my lens in for repair yesterday, now let's just hope it arrives there safe and that I get it back nice and fixed.

We have really been eating better these past months, hence the lack of yummy dessert posts :( The only indulgence we have had in months, was pizza and wings this past weekend. It tasted like heaven and happiness!

My step-dad had one of his big toes removed? amputated? I don't know the right term... you get the idea. He has diabetes and somehow, it got infected. I was very worried, but at least it wasn't his whole foot you know? I really wish I lived closer to my parents, I hate not being there for them.

I'm still super anxious about my trip to Mexico, I can't wait to see my mommy and my whole family! Too bad my step dad can't go because of work (and lack of funds). Only 5 (ish) more weeks!!!

We've been spring cleaning around here. We re-arranged our living room. It used to be a living room/studio/office. Now it's just a normal living room where we watch tv, read and now only my computer desk is in here, instead of 3 whole desks in here.

We moved my painting/craft table to our spare bedroom, as well as Mike's computer desk. I also hung some new photos in the living room. I feel like now the only thing missing is a nice fake plant, because you know somehow I would manage to kill it if it was real.

So there you have it, that's what I've been up to, still nothing exciting. And because I don't want this post to look "naked", here's a picture of my parents and me, 2 years ago when we went to Guadalajara. I miss them so much.

So happy!

Just stopping by to tell you that I'll be going to Guadalajara, Mexico in May. I'm so excited! But first, let me start by telling you that I believe in the "power" of visualizing and positive thinking. So a few weeks ago, I figured I'd better get my passport, that way, good things could come my way. I figured if I was prepared, the universe would arrange itself to make some traveling happen (I know, corny).

I went to the post office on Tuesday to mail out all the paper work for my name change on my passport. Then yesterday, I went online to check air fare prices to Mexico (I do this a lot) and what do you know? I find a great deal on a flight to GDL on the dates I wanted to go, because my family is planning a big party for my grandfathers 80th birthday. If I changed the travel dates, it was double the price.

So there you have it, Mike bought my ticket last night so I could go see my family :) It's been 2 years now and I really miss them. I told most of my cousins that I was going and they couldn't believe it. They're all as excited as I am. Now, I just hope my mom can be there too. My grandfather is going to be so happy to have everyone there. I can't wait! Thanks Mike for making this happen.

Weekday things...

We finally have our flights and hotel booked to go to Kentucky in June. It's for a family reunion on Mike's side of the family... obviously, because mine would be in Mexico hehe. I'm excited! A new place to visit and new people to meet.

Since I sold my kit lens, I now have money to renew my passport. I already had one, but I have to get my last name changed. It sucks that I have to pay $75, plus the photos and shipping. I have everything filled out, I just need to go mail everything.

I've been pretty lucky at winning things lately. A gift card to Cheesecake Factory in December, some adorable robot cards from Paper Pudding through a blog giveaway and this past weekend, I won 3 prints from Riot Jane through another giveaway.

I helped my friend Isabelle bake for an event again. This time I made some mini chocolate cheesecakes and some cookies. I didn't try the cheesecakes, but the cookies were delicious! A little hard to make, but totally worth it. I love getting paid to bake :)

December

I'm running kind of late in my December blogging, oops! Not much to report though. I tried looking back in my blog posts to see what was going on around this time last year and I didn't even talk about Christmas! I guess I just wasn't in the mood for it. We didn't even put up a tree last year, so that explains a bit.

Mike came home from work with our tree on Monday and it's all set up and decorated :) We still have the same ornaments we bought a few years ago... I hope next year we can have a different color scheme, something more colorful. Right now it's gold and red hues, I mean it's nice and elegant looking, but we can't have the same every single year now can we?

I'm also excited about Christmas because we are hosting it at our place. I mean it's only Mike, his mom and me, but still. It'll be the first time we do it. We're thinking about making a prime rib roast, scalloped potatoes, a fancy salad and for dessert, individual chocolate molten lava cakes. I haven't had pumpkin pie since thanksgiving but I had pumpkin pie ice cream from Jeremiah's... it was SO good! I might make a pumpkin pie as well, I haven't had enough this year.

I made another set of ornaments for the shop, so go check them out, there's still time to get them before Christmas. I also have my Christmas cards sealed, stamped and ready to mail. We still have some shopping to do, but hopefully we'll get it done this weekend. Anyway, my shop needs new illustrations, so I'm off to keep cutting paper and sketch. Good luck with all your holiday preparations.

We're back!

I'm so glad that Mike decided to spend Thanksgiving with his dad and his family, it was worth the 13 hour drive... not that I did any driving, but still, I had to try very hard not to fall asleep. Lily did really well on her first long road trip too. We left Monday morning and were back home last night around midnight.

It was nice being around a lot of people, I really miss that here. Everyone was very happy to see Mike. I also think they liked me, it was their first time meeting me... they sent me home with lots of goodies... among them the Pioneer Woman cookbook and a cast iron skillet to try some of her recipes, how cool is that?!

We had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. I even made a pumpkin pie, but for some reason I didn't like the way it came out, I'll have to make another one here at home. The weather was perfect, nice and cold. They said it wasn't very pretty because all the leaves already fell off the trees, but it was still a nice change of scenery for me.

Happy

I know I know, once again I have neglected this little blog. This time I actually have things to share. First of all, I quit the census job. Honestly, I hated it and they wanted me to work on weekends... not good. They also didn't want to give me a few days off for Thanksgiving and well, it was "suggested" I resign instead. I will still be considered for other Census jobs, so maybe they'll call me again in a few months.

The other news is that we will be spending this Thanksgiving in Tennessee. We are going to visit Mike's dad. I'm VERY excited (and a bit nervous) because I have never met him. It will also be our first long road trip together, including Miss Lilicans. I can't wait! Just two more weeks. I hope I get to use the pea coat I bought at Old Navy for only $22.

And what better than the smell of these molasses spice cookies with a rum glaze, to get into the holiday spirit? I helped my photographer and baker friend Isabelle, bake some cookies for an event she had to cater. And speaking of food, we made a butternut squash soup for dinner tonight... perfect for this wonderful weather we are having today in Orlando.