29 on the 29th

Happy birthday to the love of my life.
I am so thankful that there is beautiful you.
You are, without a doubt, my greatest blessing.
Hope your day is the happiest.

**We celebrated with a successful surprise party on Friday night! More photos to come!**

dancing with daddy, april 08

We are back from a very fun weekend in Grand Rapids where we got to meet baby Wade for the first time! I have pictures of the babies and Jack but am too scared to download one. more. thing. to my laptop! I am in the middle of proofing photographs for 4 clients and would be more than in trouble if the computer decided to give up. Once I get a few orders finished and cleared out I will post pictures of the weekend. Until then, you can sneak a peak at the newest Thompson over on their blog. We enjoyed our trip, as always! This was Isabella's first road trip and she did quite well. She only freaked out once...and that was when we were two hours from home on the way back and I totally pushed the envelope by insisting that we make a quick stop at the outlets. Outlets are never quick though...and she was way done with sitting in her carseat. She continued to cry....even after I showed her that I was, indeed, shopping for her! Uh, hel-lo! You may not cry while I am buying you cute clothes.
Anyway, glad to be back safely. We have a busy week ahead. All the way home from Michigan we concocted a rather large to do list containing all the things we've been meaning to do around here but continue to put off. We decided...no more procrastinating! We are pretending to be on a serious deadline. By Friday---everything must be completed. We knocked out two of the biggest items on the list tonight...one of which was painting the powder room ceiling. I've only been meaning to do that since we moved in!! The other item was a nursery decoration that needed to be created an hung. While we were upstairs Tommy and I mused that we have spent an awful lot of time and funds on a room that never gets used. Oh well. At least when we take her up there to get ready...things look nice. We have many more things to accomplish. It's a good time for getting things done. The weather is outstanding. We had the windows open and the radio playing while we worked tonight. Spring is lovely, really. So fresh. We officially have our flip flops out.
Speaking of flip flops.....is it tacky to paint a baby's toenails? I'm guessing you are nodding "YES" frantically at the computer screen right about now....but I thought I'd ask. I'm so tempted.

4.12

e & j, wedding day, 4.12.08

We are back home after a busy weekend in my hometown. I photographed the rehearsal and wedding of an old, dear, and true friend. Though the weather wasn't our friend, the evening turned out perfectly. She is now cruising along in the ocean...probably sipping on a fun drink with a little umbrella in it side by side with her new husband. I haven't started the long process of wading through the pictures deleting/sorting/editing, etc...but this one caught my eye so I took some time after dinner to edit it so I could post it. I think it captures them. Simple happiness. Together. The reception was great fun. We met so many wonderful people and enjoyed celebrating with the bride and groom.
Isabella spent lots of time with her Gigi and her great Gigi while we were "working." Mom reports that she was an angel. Tommy and I missed her. I carried her picture in my pocket all night and showed it to lots of people I haven't seen in too long. It still sounds funny to say "my daughter." Am I old enough to have a daughter? The reality is...YES! I'm old enough to have three of them! YIKES.
In unrelated news...I am looking forward to getting together with Blake and Tex and Palmer tomorrow night. Blake and I are going to watch The Memory Keeper's Daughter (tivo'ed it) since we read the book in Book Club last year. The guys will.......entertain their kiddos!
Also looking forward to visiting with Allison, Chris, Jack, and baby Wade this weekend. We will finally get to meet the babe in person. That's exciting.
And.....
Thanks for the rice cereal/sleeping advice. We will hold off on the rice cereal for sure. (I think I'll go to pieces if I see my baby actually EATING from a spoon, anyway!) While we were away this weekend she slept in her pack n play and slept soundly all night. So...we are thinking that the problem was that she is waking herself up by hitting the sides of the cradle (or more accurately, the big aquarium musical thingy that is hooked to the side.) We removed it from the cradle and will see how she sleeps tonight. If she still wakes herself up, the cradle will go into the storage room and we will put the pack n play in our room. I really prefer the look of the cradle to the pack n play....but then again, I really prefer solid sleep over broken up sleep. We've also decided that she'll stay in our room for now. That works for us. If she needs therapy for dependency issues later in life well, we'll just have to hope we still have good insurance.
Monday is nearly here. I'm off to bed.

***Rickert, do you read this blog? We absolutely adored the baby gift you sent us (the bibs are perfect because they look so cute and she has to wear a bib all the time because of her frequent spit ups!) but we don't have your new address to send you a thank you note. Please comment here or email it to me if you read this...or if anyone else (Ann, Amanda, Brandy, etc) reads this and can send it to me, I would be so thankful.

random random

*We are backsliding a bit on the whole sleep issue! She has been sleeping through the night since 6 weeks...and started sleeping 9 hours at about 8.5 weeks. For the past 3 nights she has been getting up every hour or so and crying for her paci. She is still in the cradle in our room (I know, I know...we're terrible) for several reasons. The major reason being that her nursery seems soooooo far away. In reality, it's just right upstairs. But to me, it seems something like this...

out our bedroom door, through the great room, around the corner and through the dining room, through the foyer, up 35 steps, around the corner, down the hallway, through her door, across her room, and finally....to her crib.

Now, that seems like too far away to me for safety purposes (I realize this is irrational) and it also seems like too long a trip for who ever is on paci police duty that night. Plus, there is the whole door dilemma with the dogs. I feel too closed off from her if I shut our door or hers....but then I feel like it's too unsafe to have two 80 pound dogs roaming the house at night when each of them is easily able to jump the height of her crib. (It should be noted that both dogs have been wonderful with her...but dogs are unpredictable. Also, I worry that they might try to get in bed and snuggle with her or something. Not good.
Also, I am now obsessing about the cornice and tapestry that hangs above her bed. What if it falls on her in the night. Tommy has pulled on it to test it...but I am not convinced.
So for now, I have to keep her in the cradle in our room. Though this situation won't last much longer as her arms are starting to poke through the slats. But anyway, let's take a vote from some other mom's. Do you think I should start rice cereal with her? She's old enough and maybe it would help her sleep more soundly?? Here's whats holding me back on the rice cereal...she doesn't wake up at night hungry. She seems to be perfectly happy...even smiling at me as if to say, "Hmmmmm, why is it still dark. I am quite sure it is time to get up."
Here's what I do know: Waking every hour to play "Pin the Paci to the Mouth" in that dark is not getting it. To add to the broken up sleep, she has also developed a cute little rodeo arm that circles wildly in the air before slamming repeatedly into the mattress. It's lovely, truly.

*The weather.....we are loving it. It has been amazing. I took the fleece Bundle-Me off of the car seat just in time to see that temperatures will plummet this weekend and that there is a chance of SNOW on Monday. We will be so glad when the weather turns for good. Sunday-Wednesday felt like Florida minus the sand and palm trees. I was like an excited native showing my daughter (who played the role of tourist) all around town in the balmy weather. There is so much we haven't been able to do with her because it's been so cold since she was born. And a new season of baby clothes! And the summer shoes! The cuteness abounds!

*I've been proofing photos into the wee hours. I need to get everything done before this weekend because of Erin's wedding photography. We have our fingers tightly crossed that the weather holds out. Rain+wedding photography=very nervous photographer. I am really looking forward to the event. Erin, it's going to be beautiful!!
Mom will have Isabella for lots of hours on Friday and Saturday. I hope she is good.

*Last night for date night (my turn) I rented Kite Runner for us. I read and loved the book. The movie was very good, but had a lot of subtitles...which is kind of annoying...especially with a baby involved. If you look away for even a second, you miss something. The movie was heavy...but moving.
Then, before bed, we watched the tivo'ed Oprah show on puppy mills. Too heavy for me. Too sad. Unbelievable and completely disturbing. The ONLY show on which I have ever seen Oprah cry.

*This would be my favorite summer song. An odd video, yes...but a great windows down song, nonetheless. Give it a listen.


*And...my favorite summer dinner song.... (add Moet and candles and open windows...or even better, a large body of water nearby)


*Last one. Forgive me..I'm in a bit of a You Tube phase. My favorite song that reminds me of Thomas! Love you, babe!



Lastly, baby brother...I'll put your package in the mail on Monday. Sorry to disappoint!