just because i have time

I don't have much to report. We're still buying things that we've already bought once, and trying to get the best deal since we're generally just taking the payout for insurance and rebuying things ourselves. At this point, it's just an annoyance.

Iowa State won last night! I didn't go to the game, but Travis had a good time. The tailgating was not so fun for me because I didn't realize how un-kid-friendly it would be, and it was hot and loud and hard to socialize. Hopefully next week will be better.

Emily tried to stand on her own today. She likes to stand up next to me when I'm sitting on the floor, and i'll hold her while she stands and hugs me. Well, today I let go, and she stood for a second, and thought that was pretty cool! She can cruise around furniture now, but still thinks crawling is a pretty nice way to get from place to place, and she doesn't have much interest in walking if I am holding her up by her hands. No biggie - she'll get to it when she gets to it. She likes to laugh if she hears laughter, even if she's not sure what's funny she'll laugh along with us! We heard cuckooburras (sp?) on the radio, and they really do sound like they're laughing, so she giggled along in the backseat, too. What a fun girl.

And a beauty, too! I finally updated her pictures, so, enjoy! Have a great weekend, everyone.

Robble robble robble!!!

Looks like our burglar buddies ran out of groceries and made another hit:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080820/NEWS/80820011

ups and downs

I was supposed to have my initial eye appointment today for lasik surgery, but when they called last week for the appointment reminder, I asked them if there was any considerations because I'm nursing. They said, "OH! you can't have this done at all if you're nursing. You'll have to be done for 3 months before you can even have the initial appointment." I am super bummed. I won't know if I"m a good candidate until after I have the initial appointment, and I don't know if my desire to have more kids makes me not a good candidate. I want to set the funds aside for 2009 in my HSA, but, i don't want that much money sitting in there if it turns out I can't do it in 2009. And I don't want this to dictate how old Emily's little sibling ends up being, cuz that's not the way I want my family planning to go. So, I'm pretty bummed. I guess, it's even more incentive to get her weaned. Down to 4x a day now, so, we're getting there.

Our new door was installed today! Yay! It needs painting, but it's at least secure, and the post that had been holding the door shut is now gone. Travis bought a whole bunch of tools to be replaced, and we are starting to find out how much we can spend to replace lost items. I am still frustrated at how many times each day I go to use something that I don't own anymore.

We had a fun and crazy weekend! My dad's retirement party was Saturday afternoon, and we could not have asked for a better day or nicer company. Everything worked out perfectly and everyone had a great time - most of all, Dad. He was so pleased. It was a great reason to get everybody together. Emily got to go swimming again, this time outdoors and with her cousins. She had SO much fun that she was unable to sleep, which was probably the low point for me! :) Then we spent some time together in Rockford, and we had a really fun time there too. I sure hope Emily grows up to like her family as much as I like mine!

Emily the chowhound

Emily has finally started to figure out how eating works. Her palette is currently limited to bananas, yogurt, cheerios, sweet potato baby food, applesauce (sometimes), bread (she's a fan of the whole-wheat stuff! good deal!), and one bite of whatever else we happen to sneak in there while she’s not expecting it. I was trying to give her some green bean / carrot mixture that I had pureed up, and honestly there was virtually no taste to it. But she still made the face and stuck her tongue out. Maybe we have to work on liking new textures now?

And as a result of this newfound ability to eat, she’s also nursing less and less. The other day, she nursed only four times the whole day! Most days it’s 5 times, which is pretty doable for the time being. It’s nice to see it winding down, because I am a bit weary of fueling my own self. Okay, who am I kidding, it was fun to be able to eat like a teenager again. The other downside is that Emily STINKS now, though I guess that’s a little bit nice because it’s not usually a surprise when I open up her diaper now.

Sure wish I could take some pictures of her – she’s just so beautiful. There are a couple things I wish I could get a video of, like how she turns around in circles while sitting by poking her legs out and around, or when she uses her little fingers on her lips to make a blub-blub sound. She can pull herself up to standing pretty easily now, which is something she couldn’t do at all two weeks ago, and she’s now working on being able to get back down without falling.

As far as recovering from our break-in goes, we’re now moving at the pace of the insurance company. They have already cut us a check for replacing the kitchen floor, and it’s looking promising that we’ll get new drawers & cabinets. But they haven’t figured out getting us money for our camera or laptop, which seems like it would be simpler. I hadn’t planned on a kitchen remodeling project right now!! It was on the list of stuff to do to the house, but pretty far down the list, after things like finishing the porch, getting the carpet out of the dining room, and putting carpet in the master bedroom. And, I’m sure Travis will want to do all the work himself instead of paying someone to do it, just so we can make the most of the insurance payouts, which mean it’ll take forever just like the porch has. I guess it’s still a silver lining, though. I just want to move forward instead of trying to catch up…