Welcome to the world!

It is my pleasure to introduce to you, Miss Kyla Ann.

 

Kyla was born on Tuesday evening to one of my oldest (as in long time, not age) friends, Jessy, and her husband, Steve. She was a week past her due date and everyone was anxiously awaiting her arrival. We are so glad she has finally arrived!

 

Jessy and I have known each other since Kindergarten and we grew up three blocks away from each other. We've been through almost everything together including first sleepovers, first days of school, playing Barbies, sliding down the laundry chute in her house, boyfriends, breakups, doing each others hair and makeup, being in each others weddings and now, experiencing the miracle of life. I never would have imagined that 20+ years after meeting Jessy I would be at the hospital during the labor and delivery of her first child. Wow. I am so in awe of how we have grown together and of all of the things we have experienced together over the years.

I was so amazing to hold this tiny person who was inside one of my best friends for the last nine months. Pregnancy and childbirth is such an amazing miracle and I can not wait for the day when I get to experience it first-hand, and not just from the sidelines. Even Dave is now a little more excited about adding a member to our family in the future after holding Kyla.

Sorry for the poor pictures. I was waaaaay too excited about just getting some pictures to bother to fix the camera settings for the low light in the room. Oops.

Congratulations to Jessy and Steve! She is beautiful and perfect and I can't wait to watch her become who she is meant to be. Welcome to the world, Kyla!

Valentine fun

Happy day after Valentine’s Day! I hope you all had fun celebrating with the ones you love, even if that means you celebrated with yourself!

Our Valentine's celebration began on Sunday when Dave planned for us to go see The King’s Speech in the afternoon. I know that movie has won many awards recently so I figured it was worth going to check out, and it did not disappoint! We really enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to you if you haven't seen it yet. That night Dave planned for us to go to Cracker Barrel for dinner because I had never been there before (hard to believe, I know) and I absolutely love "country" foods. My diet was broken for a day and I indulged in country fried steak, mashed potatoes, fried okra, mac & cheese and the most delicious cake ever - double chocolate fudge Coca-Cola cake.  The whole meal was heaven! We went home happy and full. I will admit, all of that "unhealthy" food made me a little sick, but it was totally worth it.



At work on Valentine's Day I received a beautiful bouquet of tulips, an "I Love You" sign, a small box of chocolates and bath soak, salts and body wash from my very sweet and thoughtful husband. That man knows me so well! I sure am one lucky woman.



I also delivered a little something special for Dave while he was at work on Valentine's Day. I brought him a basket full of candies, including cute chocolates shaped like lips, a giant balloon and an invitation to a special romantic dinner later that night. Please excuse his messy desk; apparently this is what "genius at work" looks like ;-)



That night we had a candlelight dinner with steak, lobster, potatoes, salad, wine and a giant heart-shaped cookie (which I made and didn't burn!) for dessert. The cookie icing sort of ran together and my "Be Mine" looked a little funny, but Dave still appreciated the effort. Even Gromit got some special treats that day including a soft-food dinner, a red bone and a stuffed duck toy that quacks when he bites it.



It was a great Valentine's Day weekend and celebration and I would say the best we have ever had. I hope you had fun, too!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you! 

Getting comfy

I think we may have spoiled Gromit a little too much. In this cold weather we have been wrapping him up in blankets on the couch, letting him sleep in our bed (for a little bit each night), and turning on space heaters when we are home for him to curl up in front of.

Normally we keep a tan fleece blanket across the seats of the couch to protect the fabric from dog oils when Gromit is up there. Lately we have put a light blue, fluffy down blanket on the couch over the tan blanket for Gromit to snuggle with since it has been so cold. I know, I know… its a little much, but I don’t care. He is the only baby I have, for now, and he seems to like having that extra layer of fluff to sleep on.

Yesterday his blue blanket got dirty so I threw it in the laundry to wash. Apparently Gromit was missing his blue blanket and decided to try and fluff up the tan blanket as a more comfy spot to sleep on. Take a look:

I think we have a spoiled (and smart) dog on our hands!

Random thoughts

I have a lot of random thoughts and happenings, but nothing worthy of its own post. So here we go, welcome to my brain!

• Dave has been out of town giving a presentation on the last seven years of research he has done while working towards his PhD at a national research laboratory.
• Because Dave is gone, I have been completely unmotivated to make myself dinner. Not because I don’t want to eat, but because it is a lot of effort to make a healthy meal for only one person. This is bad news for my diet.
• Gromit seems to be protesting Dave’s absence by ripping apart the wrappers on our Duraflame logs.

• It has been FREEZING cold lately. Actually, it has been below freezing here… as in -15 degrees. In the sub-zero temperatures I have been putting a sweater and snow boots on Gromit for walks. Laugh if you want, but the boots protect his paws from frostbite and also from being irritated by all of the de-icing chemicals being put all over the sidewalks. Once we get outside he doesn’t seem to mind having the boots on.
  

   

• I had to make a brunch item for a potluck meeting this morning. In one of my fun cookbooks I found a recipe for baked french toast and decided to give it a try. It turned out great! Let me know if you want the recipe.
• My mom, my sister, Kelly, and I have booked plane tickets to go to one of Daché’s bridal showers in Texas! I am so excited to be able to spend some more time with her and my brother before they get married in just two months!
• I am really getting into digital scrapbooking and am almost done with our 2010 album. Every once in a while I read some digital scrapping blogs for new ideas and products and a couple days ago I came across this cute desktop background from Shabby Princess that you can download for FREE and customize with your own pictures. Cool, huh?

Ok, well I think that covers all of my random thoughts… for now. I hope you all are staying warm in whatever part of the world you’re in!