Bring on the fam!

I am so, so, so, so, so excited for our Christmas travels!! I have been counting down the days until we get to leave. I am excited for the drive, the food and the hugs. Yeah, the presents will be nice, I guess, but I just want my family.
I get a little "girl time" tomorrow with Molly before we have Matt's concert and then the travels begin. I hope the roads stay clear and our travel goes quickly (and that my patience holds out until we do get there).

Update

I haven't written in forever, yet I feel like I've had so much going on in my head that I wanted to write about. I'm completely smitten with my girl, which I guess any mother should be. The transition back to work has been challenging at times, but has gotten better. There are still a few frustrations that I thought would be gone when students left, but they have managed to stick around and make me a little more nuts than I should let them. Still, they'll be over soon enough...I hope. I am excited that I get to see my girl every day and that makes it easier for me to do the full-time gig. Time is really flying by for me. It's hard to believe that a year ago today Matt and I found out Neala was coming. It seems like it wasn't that long ago.
Now I have a list in my head of things I can do one-handed and/or while holding/feeding a baby:
1. send an email
2. browse the internet (with my toes, actually)
3. brush my hair
4. brush my teeth (spitting out the toothpaste without hitting her is the hard part)
5. slice a tomato
6. make sandwich out of aforementioned tomato
7. make a bottle (formula or factory)
8. carve a pumpkin
I know there are more, but that's all I can remember for now. I'm sure I'll update this list as time goes by.
The two of us travelled to St. Louis. I knew it was going to be a test of either stupidity or craziness. Luckily for me, it was the latter. She rode the whole way without any fussiness and was a huge hit with all the ladies in attendance and got lots of love. Even the employees in the hotel restaurant wanted to take turns holding her. Not such a bad thing when they only option is a buffet. I haven't been able to add that to my list of one-handed tricks...yet.
My brain has stopped functioning. Time for bed (yes, it's early).
Blessings to you all!
gin

another avenue for my ocd-ness

Since moving to IC I have developed a few different ways to channel my OCD. First, I was crocheting--mostly scarves--which served me well since it was so freakin' cold compared to what we were used to winters feeling like. Then 2 years later, I transitioned to cross-stitch, which I still enjoy, especially for making Christmas stockings for friends and family. They are gifts that can last for much longer than a scarf.

Last Thursday I went to a beginning scrapbookers class. I have never been to a class and always figured it would be much more difficult, so I thought I would give it a try. The main purpose to make Neala's baby book be not boring. The problem is, I enjoyed it more than I thought and have decided to expand my page making past the 2 from the class and may have gone a little overboard. I bought 2 albums (1 for the cards we received for Neala and 1 for the actual pictures of Neala), 1 pack of paper, 2 packs of cardstock, extra page protectors, and a die cutting machine. Yes, I'm a dork, but at least I'm a creative dork. In the mean time I still need to finish 3 stockings for friends (hopefully getting at least one of them done by Christmas--maybe if I got off the computer while Neala was sleeping...).

Off to be crafty...

I could cry...

and probably should. Part of it is sleep deprivation, part is hormones, and part is stress. This I know.
Last night I got a little over 4 hours of sleep. Hormones are a given for me right now.
The stress is the only thing I wish were absent, rather the cause of the stress. Gma-Hoof (as I lovingly refer to her, for her ability to insult anyone, anywhere, at any time and not even realize it) has been having what we believe to be mini-strokes. Several times she's had CTs and yesterday an MRI. Each time the doctors are able to find nothing. Basically, we have to wait for her to have a full-on stroke with who knows what end result. While I realize she is going to be 91 on December 1, the waiting game seems so very hard for me. Afterall, she is the only "original" grandparent I have left and, despite her ability to crush my ego with the fewest of words, I love her so very, very much.
So while I could blame it all on hormones, it really is the sound of my heart breaking that is making me cry.

Oh what a beautiful morning

My morning, thus far...

It was nice while it lasted.