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!