Liv's new ears!

My girl got tubes in her ears yesterday. It was very, very quick procedure. From the time they gassed her until she woke up was less then 15 minutes. I was surprised that she didn't wake up crying, she was quite on the way home until she puked up the apple juice she was given after waking up. They told me not to be surprised if she did puke, so I wasn't worried. She was kinda cute about it. She pulled out her gummy, looked at me wide-eyed and said uh, uh then puked. I was there to catch it and afterward she was just fine. I guess only a mother would think her kid was cute as she puked....

I miss him

It's been a week since we had to put Tater down. I still keep looking for him. For such a little grumpy old man, he's left a huge hole my heart.

Cruising

I love going on cruises. This last one was a blast. I just wish it would have been longer so I could have gotten some down time. 3 nights is not enough.

This cruise was different from my other cruises because we went as a small group. 4 couples, no kids. All the grandparents came into town to watch the babies. It was bliss. Don't get me wrong, I missed Liv terribly. I checked in with my Mom compulsively, but it was so nice to be able to have a few (too many) drinks and go dancing and not have to worry about paying the piper in the mornings. I got to sleep as late as I wanted...bliss. pure bliss.

We left Atlanta around 10-10:30 on Thursday. A&A rode with us. We picked them up at 9, then went to Waffle House to start our vacation. So we were a little later then our intended start time. The other 2 couples (H&E and M&P) dove together and left about 10 too but they live on the other side of town and had their own agenda. Since they thought we were leaving at 9 we sent them random text messages the whole way to the hotel, telling them we were farther along on the road. When we were about an hour from the the hotel, we told them we were at the pool...it was fun with all the smack-talk texting going on, it made the trip much faster. Even with the sit-down lunch we had at Bob Evan's they only beat us to the hotel by 1/2 hour.

We stayed at the Embassy Suites Thursday night, E had enough points to pay for 2 rooms, Yea E! and the hotel has a weekday happy hour with free drinks. Guess what we did? Yep, we indulged ourselves, then got a taxi van to take us to Universal Studio's Halloween Horror Nights. $75 per person. ouch. but in the name of vacation we went.

Horror Nights was a lot of fun. It was also a lot of standing in line. They had 8 haunted houses, 6 "scare zones" and a couple of the everyday rides open. We saw 3 of the haunted houses,3 scare zones and did Jaws, Men In Black and the Mummy ride before the park closed. Not to shabby considering the haunted house lines were 45 minutes to 90 minutes long (I timed the houses themselves and they took 6 to 10 minutes to go thru) The last time I was at Universal I was pregnant with Liv, so I couldn't ride any of the fun rides, so my favorite part was riding the rides and being tipsy during it. I can't say I've ever done that before.

We got ourselves up and moving in time for the free breakfast, which at Embassy, rocked. I had a made to order omelet, juice and hash browns. It was just what I needed after all the drinking the night before. We checked out, went to CVS for a few forgotten items (not mine!) and started the 45 minute drive to the Port.

Embarking was a little off. The first half was smooth, the lines were short and went fast. Then the card machine broke. Dun, Dun, Dun!!! so we sat and waited 45 minutes until we could get in the line to board the ship. The good part about that was our rooms were ready when we got on and we could drop off all of our stuff.

This was my first cruise with Royal Caribbean and I found the Monarch of the Seas to be exactly as I expected it to be. My only gripe was the bathroom vanity. It was nice and large, but nowhere to secure your stuff. Carnival Celebrity's bathroom was better.

More tomorrow......

Poor Baby

Liv has the ear infection that won't die. We've started our 4 round of antibiotics. sigh. At least it doesn't seem to hurt her. I really hope this antibiotic works because the next treatment is a shot 3 days in a row.

Grammy, Zalebaby and I took Liv to the Aquarium then to Johnny Rockets for lunch afterward. She had a blast.

Tease

I wanted to write a recap of my little cruise vacation, but I don't have enough time today at work. (actually working at work?!? Who'd of thunk it?) So here is a little tease...

Sunset the first night....

The Governor's Mansion ....
Atlantis.....

Rocking Horse

My Cousin Tommy brought Liv a rocking horse when he stopped to visit on his way to Florida. It's a copy of the one I had as a kid. His dad, my Uncle Charlie made both of them. It is now Liv's favorite toy. I can't blame her. I remember loving mine. It was in the kitchen and I would ride it while Mom was making dinner.

I'd post the video but blogger isn't being cooperative.

I've got nothing....

I wanted to challenge myself to posting every weekday. In the past couple of years, that's been the thing to do in November, but I've never been able to do it. I haven't read about anyone doing it this year, but I'm going to give it a try. So, this bit of fluff is my post for today.

closet time

I would like to throw away all the clothes in my closet and start over.

I made a good dent in my closet in October, I tried on all my clothes and if it didn't fit, it went in the goodwill bag. 12 kitchen bags later, I have a pared down closet. I however dislike most of the clothes I have left. I'm going to have to learn to live with it. Or I can get out my sewing machine and fix it. It's too bad I don't have any garment fabric that I like.

Zalebaby and I have made a budget and we're sticking to it. I'm happy with that, as we are paying off the debt that we acquired while he was out of work. So I am just going to have to practice some self restraint and save up for a few pieces of clothing that I am drooling over. It's not easy. I have no self restraint......wish me luck.

Voting Day

I voted, Did you?

She's the best reason to vote.

Happy Halloween!

She spent all night taking the candy out of the treat bowl and putting it in her bag. When all the candy was in the bag she'd tap the bowl and ask for more. I dumped the candy back into the bowl and we'd start all over again. Over and over again.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link at Soulemama to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Have a wonderful weekend!

end of summer fun.....

She went to her first invite from school birthday party.....She did very well and had lots of fun.

My life is filled with Snot Bubbles.

Poor baby- A cold with an ear infection, mama chasing her with wet wipes and a nose going raw. It's no wonder all she wants is to do is cry.

She had her first sick doctor's visit. We didn't see her normal Dr. but another in the center. I loved Dr. Segal, Liv didn't burst into tears when she walked in and let her examine her without much protest. Either Liv liked her better or she was just that sick. Can I say I really want one of those touch thermometers the nurse had? a 3 second touch and she was done. That would be worth $100 to me. Next payday, I'm getting one.

After 3 days of antibiotics, she's feeling better, there is much less crying and snot bubbles, but there is a reason for no pictures.....

Yellow River Game Ranch

So, I've been lazy and I didn't post about our day at the Yellow River Game Ranch. It's about time I remedy that. Here's a bit from their website:

"Stroll along a mile-long trail on 24 wooded acres and encounter over six hundred highly sociable birds and animals indigenous to the state of Georgia. White-tailed deer, bunnies, buffalo, sheep, kid goats, black bears and a bevy of new-born animals are waiting to be fed, admired and petted on a "nose-to-nose" basis. We specialize in "people-friendly" wildlife."

They are the place where unreleasable animals go to live. We had a great time feeding and petting the deer. I was surprised by how small the deer are. I'm use to the white tail in PA, nearly twice the size of the deer on the ranch.

Her favorite place

For some reason, she loves the dog crate....


if it's been too quiet for too long, I can usually find her there. I'm waiting for the day I find her sleeping in there. I love how Lucy is guarding her.

Mother's day adventure

We went to the Renaissance Faire!

I worked at the Pennsylvania Ren Faire from the age of 14 until 21.

Yes, I was a major geek.

It amazes me that there are touring groups from when I was working in PA still performing today. Not that I got to see any of them perform on mother's day....Little Bit was not having anything to do with sitting still, there was too much to see.




She was kissed by a kissing wench:

It was a busy, busy day.

Liv's first Ice Cream Cone

Liv's first Ice Cream Cone......a story in pictures.

Olivia 1 year old...

OMG. It is so hard to believe that she is a year already. Last night was the first night that I can remember that I didn't take a bottle upstairs for her morning feeding. I washed all the bottles last night and will put them away when I get home tonight. We've had her using a sippy cup for juice and water for the last month or so, so now we're giving her milk in them too. No more formula either. We ran out of formula yesterday. Zalebaby is excited to not buying formula anymore, but I'm sad that my baby is now a toddler.

Wahhhh!! I want to have the cuddly baby back. Not that she isn't a lot of fun now, I love to watch her think. Reading to her is fun, she likes the books that rhyme and she loves to turn the pages. Liv loves anything musical. She even sings along with her toys. Not that she uses real words, but sing she does.

Giving Grammy Kisses:

After the Smash cake:Randy is responsible for the icing in her hair. As soon as her hands were good and messy, Randy started asking her "how big are you?", "How big is Liv?" Just so she would put her hands in the air and on her head. What a mess.

alas poor cake, I ate it well!

Her party was a "smashing" success. Grammy came down from Pennsylvania on Thursday and stayed until Monday afternoon. Which meant Zalebaby and I had a date Saturday night.

What a lovely night out. We went to ECCO, a hip restaurant in downtown/midtown Atlanta where Randy works. He took the menus from us and ordered the dinner for us. We started with a meat and cheese plate that had the best aged Gouda I've ever tasted, followed by fried goat cheese, rolled in honey and pepper (drool) and Piquillo peppers stuffed with braised shortrib (I don't like cooked peppers, but this dish was wonderful!) then we shared a salad :Mixed local lettuces with pickled fennel, blood orange and hazelnut. For the entree, we had Saffron risotto with a meatball and Pork chop schnitzel with fennel, orange and pecorino. I didn't care for the meatball, but the saffron risotto was to die for. The Schnitzel is something I'm going to be dreaming about for quite a while. I need to ask Randy to get the pickled fennel recipe, I want to try to make that dish at home.