Celebrate

Cake ball on a stick is the best way to celebrate a friend's first birthday.

Ta Da!

I'm particularly proud of this year's christmas craft. I made a high-powered business conference of giraffes:

Tillie's Dog-Sitting Service

Here's a video of Tillie feeding my mother's dog Lucy while she is away. My favorite part is when she tells Lucy to "wait a minute" while she finishes rearranging the kibble in the dog bowl.

Christmas Fun

Organizing Aunt Violet's rubber ducky collection:

Blurry blueberry pancakes made by Dada:

Why Adopt?

So, I'm learning something new about adoption that I hadn't quite realized. Adoption lets you spend your money on good causes--even when you are adopting a healthy, wanted baby.

The adoption process has made me question my selfishness. At some point, an adopting parent is presented with hard options, such as: will you adopt a baby who is sick or disabled, will you adopt a baby who is older and has been neglected and abused, or will you adopt a baby who is more expensive but could be saved from a foreign and possibly abusive orphanage or foster-system? When I answer no to any of those questions, I feel a horrible sense of guilt. How committed am I to being in league with the forces of good? What if I'm not really helping anyone and instead I am just stealing away an infertile couple's chance of getting a healthy baby?

A lot of people have asked why we are adopting when we don't need to. Yes, it will be more expensive than having a biological child, but given our self-employment insurance situation, it is not by much. If you want to know, in the end this whole thing will cost us much, much less than a new car (I'm not talking a Lexus, I'm talking a Mazda)--and few would question why we might buy a new Mazda. (Okay, probably my parents who are notoriously prejudiced against buying new vehicles, hee, hee.)

Those of you who have paid for the birth of a baby know that it isn't really as cheap as it is rumored to be--even when it goes smoothly. And what do you get for that money? Hooray, you've just supported the insurance company and a dozen medical businesses--what is there to feel good about there? Certainly, it is all worth it when you really want that biological baby or when your insurance company will actually pay for most of the costs and make it affordable. But, neither of these things is true in our case. We love our biological baby, but we know we could love a baby who was not biologically connected to us too. Pregnancy sucked, but getting to experience firsthand how a life comes about is pretty cool. But I've already done that. I want to do something new.

By spending my money on adoption rather than on my own maternity and labor, I am helping an adoption agency who helps people in need. Let me tell you, this feels really good. I just got off the phone with our agent, and she does amazing things. She has helped place more than 700 babies in her career. That means that she has helped more than 700 pregnant women get through a really difficult moment in their lives. And, she has helped hundreds of couples who could not conceive experience the joys of parenthood. I have never felt better about about giving someone money. And, instead of a tote-bag or souvenir mug, I will be getting a precious little baby!

The Pink Eye that Ruined Christmakkuh

Poor Tillie got pink eye earlier this week. Plus an ear infection. Then, that spread and became pink eye in both eyes and an infection in both ears. She has missed three holiday parties with friends and family, and now we've had to cancel our trip to visit family in Pennsylvania. Plus, after the 2nd doctor's visit, she threw up twice. So now she will miss a week of day care and can't do anything fun. Thank goodness she is two and does not know how sad it is to miss out on holiday fun. Unfortunately, her mama knows. I've been boohooing about it all weekend. But, I'm going to rally and try to come up with plan B. It will involve lots of baking, since that is something that you can do when your family is riddled with contagion.

Let me tell you something about being a self-employed person. It is usually the coolest scam on Earth. You can work whenever you want, go see movies and take naps during the day, run errands, avoid long commutes, travel the world, and did I mention the naps? The price, however, becomes very apparent when you or your kid is sick. Clients do not give you family sick leave. Plus, self-employment insurance does not pay for crap. It is very stressful on top of the normal stress of having a little cutie pie who is puking and has bright red demon eyes that are covered in yellow crusty mucus.

[image from: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33160610]

Sneak Preview

Here's a sneak peek at some holiday crafting I'm doing for little tykes:

What will it be?

Babies!

Yes, my brain has a bad case of the babies. I can think of nothing else. And, we have some news to share on that front: We are adopting a baby! (Sorry if this comes as a surprise to you--I've tried to tip off as many people as possible, but there are just so many people to tell.) Today, we officially have all our paperwork submitted to the adoption agency, the FBI has agreed that we are not criminals, and thus, we are primed for adoption. Adoption is a funny (odd funny, not hilarious funny) way of getting babies in that the time frame is super nebulous. So, we could have a baby as soon as January 18th 2010 (yes, that is 4.5 weeks from now), or as late as some time in 2011 or maybe even 2012. Please prepare your minds and hearts for that earliest date, because it is looking more and more likely that that date will be the birthday of our newest kiddo--I'm so excited! And nervous! And excited! (wish us luck!)

Tillie Buh-Loon

So, here's a picture of Tillie with her ephemeral best friend Purple Balloon. This was her first helium balloon, and they had a brief but passionate friendship. (PB burst some time during the first night while Tillie slept.) So the next day, when we blew up a different balloon with just air and tied a string to it, she was very disappointed that it did not "work" right. Scott "fixed" it by getting it to stick to the ceiling with a little static electricity generated by rubbing it on Tillie's fluffy curls. She was satisfied. My scientific mind was a blown, however, as I noted it was empirically almost impossible to tell the difference between a helium balloon sticking to the ceiling through buoyant force and an air-filled balloon sticking to the ceiling through electric charge interactions. Sometimes a little too much knowledge is bad for you!

PS. She now runs around the house dragging the balloon by its string and collecting dog hair and dust with it--the perfect pet!

Crafty Sunday

This monster teeshirt was designed by Scott and crafted by yours truly. The project was inspired by the purchase of a new sewing machine from a crafty friend--a machine that can actually do applique. (I have finally arrived!) I now see why people buy a stiffener to support the underside of the stretch teeshirt fabric. It prevents the rippling of the edges of the applique. I will have to buy some for next weekend's project. I think Tillie should have one of these for at least every day of the week!

Mmm...Full!

I love stuffing--especially leftovers the next day!

Why does Tillie look like a little prairie woman in this picture? It is so tough being a pioneer!

Flower Fingers

Do you ever feel like you have plastic flowers on all of your fingers? Yes, that is a metaphor for something very profound. Discuss.

Quitter

Ooops...I think I have to quit NaNoWriMo. Here I thought that could set aside crazy amounts of time to participate in a fun novel-writing challenge, but the month is almost up and I have only 1/25 of a novel. I've gotten permission from my writing coach (who is also my triathlon coach) to start transitioning my work into NaNoWriYo (National Novel Writing Year). I must have caught her at a soft moment, because usually she is quite a hardass about this kind of thing : ) Shew!

Tillie also has occasional frustrations...

...which her lovely cousin Wyley helps her overcome!

Cousins

Tillie loves her cousins and aunts and uncles...

Swinging

How did November happen so fast? It was supposed to be leisurely with lots of time for catching up on things and getting organized. Yet, I'm running late, exhausted, and 2 weeks behind on my novel writing--yikes! Plus, according to this blog, Tillie has been celebrating Halloween for a while now...

Tilli-BOT 3000

...says "1001111100101000110101" (which translates roughly as "Happy Halloween!")

Diseased

Is this the face of pestilence, the harbinger of disease, the bringer-home of pandemics? Since when does infection come in such a cute package? A toddler in daycare is the grossest petri dish out there. She is virulence unchecked. Tillie got a cold last week, which Scott was tortured by this weekend, and which I now feel creeping my way as a slow, tight ache in my throat. And to make matters worse, swine flu is going around her classroom. Four out of the 12 children in her classroom have come down with it. Tillie and her fellow booger-nosed friends greet each other with moist kisses and suck on the same toys, so it is just a matter of time before we are oinking up piles of vomit here on Dancy Street. I'm not looking forward to it. As if contagions weren't enough, now Typhoid Tillie also has puffy hives all over from who knows what. It started out as an embarrassing (for her mother) number of mosquito bites and has blossomed into a full-body reaction to something. She hasn't done anything out of the ordinary over the weekend, so I can't explain why she looks like a rash victim. Fortunately, she isn't bothered by it. I can't tell what her teachers think of my parenting skills. Hopefully CPS doesn't show up this week. Or if they do, I hope they bring some cough drops and calamine lotion. Yuck!

NaNoWriMo

I'm going to do it! I'm going to participate in National Novel Writing Month. I don't have an idea for a plot or any characters yet, but the lovely thing about NaNoWriMo is that it places importance on quantity not quality. Starting November 1st, I will be writing a 50,000 word manuscript for a crappy (or brilliant--either works) novel. On average, that's about 5-6 pages a day. I'm excited to try out a new kind of writing for me and I hope that it helps improve my professional writing--or at least is just fun.

Here's the link if you want to find out more: http://www.nanowrimo.org/

I encourage all of you to try it along with me this year. I'd love to have some virtual, or even in-town buddies, for support and camaraderie. It is free (or pay what you want) and there is no actual pressure to finish (or at least as much pressure as you want). Even if you do not have any interest in participating, please feel free to encourage/ask/nag me about it : ) I'm psyched!

Leonardo de Tillie's First Oevre

This, my dear blogadiers, is Tillie's first drawing! Yes, my maternal chest swelled with pride as I witnessed her draw this likeness of a "kitty cat" per my request. I don't really need to point out to you any of the features, as their verisimilitude is so exact, but she explained to me as she carefully pushed the red crayon across the card that the two keen dots are its eyes and the dark, round maw below them is its mouth.

PS. Not impressed? Well, perhaps I should show you the little puddle of pee that she left in the potty for the first time this week. Hah! Now I know you think her a Renaissance woman!

New Wheels

Tillie got a tricycle for her second birthday. Doesn't she look sophisticated and mature with her new wheels? Of course, if you look at the video you will see that she hasn't quite yet figured out how not to press down on both pedals at the same time. I hadn't realized that was something one had to learn--but I guess we all did at one time.

Also, she got presents that help her try out a couple of interesting occupations:

Small Animal Vet
This poor puppy is still "sick" and gets its temperature taken and several shots on a regular basis.

Thank you Camile and Alex!

Sushi Chef
Already an expert chopper and chopstick wielder!

Thank you Hazel!

So...what should she be when she grows up?

Happy Birthday Zane!

Here's a special birthday song for our buddy Zane (who got the flu oh no!):

We love you!
Get well soon!
Happy Birthday!

Encore

"I Am a Bobah"

Translation: I am a robot [said in robot monotone]. We've trained Tillie to say this. It is very cute.

Fun at the Playground?

.

Thinking...

...on a plastic dinosaur.

Two!

Birthday girl:

Salim and Tillie get frosted:

Oliver shows us how cupcakes should be eaten:

Hazel takes notes for her first birthday:

Amy, the talented icetrix:

So pretty:

Meeting the adoring public:




And...a banana chaser: