Buzzzzz

Happy Halloween! Kate is certainly the cutest bumble bee I've ever seen....

I think she got hot after a while - look at that face! Either that or she thought this outfit made her look fat. My dad said "tell mommy vertical stripes are more slimming"

She got over it - here she is telling me a joke

The video is only a minute but so cute!

Kate's Dedication

We had a dedication for Kate, and it was so, so sweet. The purpose was to bring a small group of family and friends together to celebrate Kate. We are so blessed to have her, and we wanted to take time to thank God for her. She is a miracle, and we want to celebrate that. We also wanted to have people pray blessings for her life. It was so sweet to hear the prayers, blessings, poems, and words of wisdom that people had for her. She is a precious little girl and we know God has special things for her because she is His cherished daughter. We felt so loved to have such a wonderful group of family and friends present to celebrate this miracle.

Kate's new best bud

Kate and I met Ashley and Stella in Indianapolis and the girls were best buds from the start.


I love Stella Corotis!!

We have so much to discuss...

Good Strategy

This was a smart strategy: I was on facebook and there was a link that said "Want to vote early?" When you click on it, you enter in your name and address and it tells you where to vote and gives you the directions from your house to the location. Very smart, Obama. Get out the vote so the lines at the polls don't turn people away. Now that I have directions, I'm going to vote early!

(and by the way, if you live in Cinci, the location is 824 Broadway St. downtown.)

http://www.voteforchange.com/?state=OH&source=sem-fo-ev-fb-oh

Population Explosion! Please Respond

I was on Pampers.com today and I participated in a poll. I thought the results were FACINATING -

"How many kids would you like?"

One - 4%
Two - 20%
Three - 15%
Four - 8%
More - 53%

(Total votes 101,825)

Obviously there are lots of assumptions & caveats you could make about the voters, but still, 100,000 people is not a trivial sample size. What does this mean about the future population?

My answer, in case you are curious, was aligned with the majority. I'm sure this surprises some readers, and frankly it even surprises me. I will caveat by saying I don't want to give birth to that many kiddos (I think 3 feels like a good # there.) But I think Brett and I would like to adopt at some point. Of course you never know what the future holds, but that's my answer today.

JUST FOR FUN, and if you feel comfortable sharing, leave a comment with how you'd answer the question. (And a little logistical note - I changed my settings and it now should be easier to comment.)

Accessories inspire action

Kate was so excited to be sporting her new gold sandals (a gift from the Kences) that she stood by herself today for the first time. It wasn't for long, but she did it!

Shades, check. Pacifiers, check. Cow & Pig, check. Let's go have some fun!

Smart baby

Babies who have exersaucers are smart. I'm positive. I'm not saying it's necessarily causal, but I'm sure it's correlated. How do I know? Because smart parents have smart babies, and you practically have to be a rocket scientist to put this thing together. I struggled; it's a miracle this thing got assembled.

Obama Baby & Obama Mama

Today Kate and I went to an Obama Rally at Ault Park. It was so close we had to go see history. It felt like we were at a sporting event and we were rooting for our team - Team Obama. It was fun to see all the hoopla. Obama's speech was inspiring; he talked about freedom and the American Dream. It reminded me that we are all standing on our ancestors. Like my great grandparents who put their kids on a boat to America from Lebanon because they wanted a better life for them. That takes courage. You must believe deeply that freedom is important enough to risk your life for.

Here's a few pictures from the hoopla -

Getting Bigger

(I mean Kate - I'm actually getting smaller, thank goodness)

Doesn't she look big in her high chair? She hasn't started eating yet. The doctor said to feed her when she seemed "interested" in our food. Really? No huge interest yet. And the calories are negligible, so it's really just for "fun." Sounds messy to me, so we'll wait a little longer...


It's hard for me to believe, but she is learning to tolerate time on her tummy without screaming

Best Year of my Life

They say it’s my birthday! (well, yesterday) I’m 31 years old. I had a great birthday – I felt really loved. It started at 6:30 when Kate woke up, and after she ate I just enjoyed snuggling with her. Then at 8:30 flowers arrived at the door from Brett and Kate. I love getting flowers – I know they will die, but they are so beautiful. I got an amazing camera from Brett, my parents, and Nikki; I can hold down the button and continuously take pictures. Brett and I went out on a fancy date to the Precinct and my mom watched Kate. Then we went out with a couple of people afterwards for Beer and Cake. It was an awesome day.

We have a tradition that on your birthday that you answer 3 questions – 1) Best parts of your year 2) Toughest parts of your year and 3) What you’re looking forward to in the coming year. I highly recommend doing this – it’s fun and it’s good to reflect. Here are my answers –

1) Best Parts of the Year – This was definitely the best year of my life. After I quit my job, I felt like God told me to read Isaiah 61. I had no idea what it said, and when I turned to the chapter the title was “Year of the Lord’s Favor.” That has been my experience – I received blessings and favor the entire year. Quitting my job brought me so much freedom. I got to spend this year having fun, and it was amazing. And of course the obvious, Kate has been an incredible gift to us. I didn’t know how much I would love her. Overall, the best year of my life.

2) Toughest Parts of the Year – I’ve come a long way in my battle against performance, the need to define myself by my accomplishments. But in being a mom, this has definitely crept back in. Specifically, anytime Kate cries, I feel like a bad mom. I feel like I should be able to make her stop. And then, I feel embarrassed in front of other people, sad that I can’t help her, and overall like a failure. A newborn is a tough challenge for a performance junkie like me since they don’t really “perform’ – they just exist. They eat, sleep, play at little, and cry. Realizing this is freeing me up though.

3) What I’m looking forward to next year – Kate getting bigger and continuing to do new things. Maybe getting a job somewhere (we’ll see what happens.)

This year has really felt like a gift. I pray that I have more years as good as this one!