Moving On...

I've MOVED! Come visit me here!

I've been blogging here for two years, and so in a way, it's sort of sad to move somewhere else. Then I think about all the issues I've been having with Blogger lately and I can't wait to move on.

Anyway, this place served its purpose. It gave me a place to start recording my thoughts and experiences. It now serves as a record of my pregnancy and the first few months of my son's life. It's been my place to let my emotion out, when tragedies like my grandmother's death occurred.

I always liked journaling, but hand-writing journal entries never worked for me long-term. I would always get too busy, and it would fall by the wayside. But blogging... blogging has worked! I've been able to stick with it, and I'm so glad that I can look back on the past two years to read about the exciting, the profound, and the mundane.

But now it's time to move on. Time for posts that aren't eaten alive by Blogger. Time for entries that don't look all funky. Time for customizable headers. Time for easier blogging.

I live here now! Please come visit! :)

filler

So this is gonna be one of the obligatory NaBloPoMo posts that really is just filler. I am posting something! See? Am keeping up with my promise to write every single day!

When, really, I don't have anything great to write about, I don't have much time, and I have a screaming child in the background.

Gots to run! Sorry you even bothered stopping by to read this... pathetic, I know.

Confession

I'm about to admit something that I don't tell many people. It's something that you might find offensive.

Ready?

{whispers}

Sometimes, when I am reading a really good book, I will skip to the ending to read what happens.

Ok, you can spank me now. Ouch... ow... oh yeah, baby. Right there! Um... where was I?

So yeah. I am one of those people who reads ahead. When I do it, I think, damn, can't you have some freaking patience and self control, already? But I still do it. And although I go on reading the book and continue to enjoy it, I sometimes wonder if maybe I'd like it even better if I preserved the suspense. I wonder.

Anyone else do this?

p.s. Sorry that the text is centered, but I've discovered that if I don't try to force Blogger to justify the text, it allows me to keep spaces between paragraphs. And since seeing everything squished together bothers me more than everything all centered, well, that's what I'm going with. Pick your poison, as the saying goes.

p.p.s. Thanks for the comments about jumping off the Blogger ship. I'm working on a new blog in Wordpress and will unveil it as soon as it's ready. Nothing fancy; just a new title and such. But I'm not getting much accomplished with it because The Boy has his second cold in about as many weeks. Isn't this why I am breastfeeding? To increase his immunities and prevent so many colds? Bah. We are drowning in baby snot over here. I know, gross. Blech.

contemplating change

I'm short on time, so this'll be a quick one...

I think I am about to make the leap to Wordpress. I've been looking at their format and layout and things just seem so much easier there. I'm getting so tired of having to battle Blogger to do the simplest things.

Plus, the title of this blog really revolved around my career, which you all know I have ditched in favor of hanging out with my kid. Not that a new blog would simply be a mommy blog, but I'd like something that fits me a little better now.

Would you all follow me to a new spot? I hate to make people change their blogrolls and links, but I'm thinking it's about time for a change.

Good ol' days

Preface: Blogger is really pissing me off. It is insisting on publishing my posts without any spaces between paragraphs. I am fighting this issue daily... and I'm about to jump ship. Grrr.

Anyway, whew. Glad ya'll liked the hair. (Must get validation from internets to feel good about self. Does this make me pathetic? Don't answer that!) I was pretty nervous to dye it myself, but I figured it would be fun and worst case, I could always have it professionally corrected. But it is quite a change; one that I'm still getting used to. It's fun now to have the freedom to try new things (I had to play it pretty consistent and conservative before when I was anchoring the news).

On another topic... anyone ever have anything like this when you were growing up?
It's a toy farm set. I used to have a toy farm setup as a kid, and boy, did I love it. The barns, the fences, the little plastic animals... it was great! Of course, all of my animals had personalities, talked, and a few were even involved in love triangles. Think "As the Farm Turns" or "The Bull and the Beautiful."

I spent so many hours playing with that farm. Maybe it was a way to express a bit of my tomboyish side. Sure, I had tons of Barbies (which, coincidentally, were mostly headless, thanks to my dog who liked eating Barbie brains) and loved all the Disney Princess movies. But my farm was fun! Perhaps this was also because I grew up riding horses and joined 4-H as a kid. But regardless of the reason, I sure did get a lot of enjoyment out of that toy.

I really hope that Aiden likes "playing farm" when he gets a little older. My mom already has her eye on a beautiful handcrafted toy farm set at the local Amish market. It's gorgeous and HUGE, with all the stables and fences made of carved wood, with amazing detailing. Heck, I hope we get it someday so I can play again! I'm actually a little excited just thinking about it! :) Isn't that one great thinkg about having kids? You get to relive your childhood over again!

(Thanks to Zoot for her writing prompt!)

hair updates!

A picture post, since I don't have much time tonight! First, the "before" shot... my blondish highlights, which I've had for years...


I was bored, so I dyed it red. All by myself...

Then I decided that, damn, I could use some bangs. So I went to a stylist and got that done, too! (No do-it-yourself haircuts for me, thank-you-very-much!)

And here's the final product!

I think I like!

5 months

Dear Aiden,

You turned 5 months old this week. Five months already! This is the first monthly letter I have been able to write to you, which should tell you something about your mama. She has great intentions, and meant to start these monthly letters when you were first born, but sometimes she gets a little distracted. Or maybe this should tell you something about what a big job it is to take care of you! A big job, to be sure, but a job your mommy wouldn't trade for anything.

You are a daily dose of inspiration to your daddy and me. I often think about all the things you are learning and marvel at how much you have accomplished. If only we could continue to learn and grow at such a fast pace throughout our entire lives... we'd all be geniuses. It seems that each day you discover something new, and we are so lucky to share this journey with you.

You're only five months, but you are exploding with energy and personality. Already, you have sprouted two little teeth (your front bottom ones). You grab and play with anything you can reach, and you are so very close to crawling. Right now you push up on your arms and tuck your knees under you, but you can't quite get your arms and legs to work in tandem yet.

Most recently, you have started to squeal with delight. Not just cute little squeaks, but long, protracted squeals of joy. You do this all the time, but especially in public, which draws lots of stares and smiles. Perhaps you do this because you love visiting new places and seeing new things.

You're eating like a champ. Not only do you love nursing, but solid foods are going great! You've had rice cereal, pears, carrots, and squash so far. You know how to open your mouth for a big bite, and you aren't afraid to show us if you like something (or not)! You're even drinking from a cup now. You love when we let you sip water from our cups, and I think that when you're weaned, you'll just go straight from me to a cup, instead of using a bottle. That's how much you love your cups!

At home, you scoot around the house in your walker with amazing ease. You just realized that you can reach out from your walker to grab anything nearby. Time for Mom to start babyproofing! You almost broke the video camera the other day, when you swiped at it as it sat on the coffee table. Thank goodness Mom was there to grab it as it began to fall to the floor!

On that video camera is every video we've taken of you since you were born. And, Aiden, you are quite the star. We have so many home movies of you, and it is amazing to watch the progression. In just a few months, you have grown from a tiny, helpless, sweet-smelling infant... to a rowdy, energetic boy with a sparkling personality. You grin, you laugh, your little eyes crinkle at the corners with glee. You are a true blessing, and we drink up every moment we have with you.

I can't wait to see what the coming months have in store!

Love,
Mama