Surviving

January and February have both been those kinds of months that are filled to the brim. In retrospect, they weren't nearly as bad as I thought they'd be, but I'm still impressed I survived. And that, my friends, is why there has been no blogging lately.

Other things that didn't get done:
*Mailing Kenna & Beth's birthday gifts
*Cleaning the bathrooms
*Mopping the floor
*Emailing/calling people who I really should email/call (Adrian and Mindy, to be specific)

Things that did get done:
*Planting (and hoping not to kill) a pot of chives
*Updating my scrapbook to April 2005 (that's right--Jon and I are officially dating in Scrapbook Years)
*Organizing/beginning our 3 month storage
*Organizing Seth's clothes (thanks Sheri & Lenae!)

I now present our Valentine's Day/Week in a short photo essay:
Our V-Day was very mellow--we just relaxed after surviving our 7 hours of Girls' Camp fundraiser (babysitting) the night before. For dinner I cooked Crispy Orange Beef Stir-Fry, which has great potential, but needs some minor adjustments.For dessert we had some chocolate-dipped strawberries I made. Some of them were going to be tuxedo strawberries, but I was too lazy to add the bow tie and buttons. Deliciousness.

We didn't give each other gifts for Valentine's (well, Jon let me take a nap, which is ALWAYS wonderful). We did, however, purchase some lovely new things for our home:
That's right--after three plus years of marriage, we finally bought a bed frame. Which means we can finally use the bed skirt we've been toting around for 3 + years of moves...
My parents and grandparents sent us money to go out for Valentine's, so we promptly used it to buy this lamp, which I love and which will last much longer than the delicious meal we could have bought. Thanks!
We also got our painting framed, which really helps the ambiance in the living room (as opposed to before, when I had it push-pinned to the wall. I'd have to say that was detrimental to the ambiance...). Yes, it was ridiculously expensive, despite Michael's alleged 50% off sale. Funny side note--while hanging the painting we discovered that our piano is not level. So do we level the painting to the ceiling or the piano? Decisions...

We officially had our Valentine's date last weekend. Yes, we went to Red Lobster. It's tradition--that's where Jon & I ate right before he proposed. Are we embarrassed to be eating at Red Lobster when we live in the Seafood State? Absolutely. We may have to adjust our tradition, especially since Red Lobster no longer carries its so-rich-it-might-kill-you Lobster Bisque (which is really why we go).

Many thanks to the lovely Marley for watching Seth so we could eat in peace. Luckily he was perfect for her, despite having forfeited his second nap that day.

To finish off our celebrations, we had the Finnigans & Oliveras over for dinner. Apparently we were going for a cultural theme:

General Tso's Chicken for dinner...

...and crepes for dessert. We then played a rousing game of Acquire, which Carlos managed to win handily despite none of us thinking he was even a contender.

And, since I get in trouble if I don't post pictures of our child, here's Seth texting his Grandma. His accomplishment this week is learning to roll over (again) and then promptly forgetting (again).
PS--recipes are on our Recipe Blog

For all you whiners...

(Yes, I'm talking to you, Mom and Adrian). I apologize for not posting Seth pictures on my last post. I promise this post will more than make up for it.

Seth is officially 7 months old now. This stage is so much fun--I would love to just hit 'pause' for a month or two.

Seth's accomplishments this month include:

*amazing sitting up skills--he can sit up unassisted during my entire hour-long exercise class.

*bringing toys/hand/blankets to his mouth (strangely enough he didn't start this until AFTER his teeth came in)

*picking things up using his thumb and fingers (instead of just grabbing at it)

*eating solid food for breakfast AND dinner. This kid cleans out a Stage 2 food container mixed with cereal at almost every dinner. Squash is his absolute favorite food.

*losing some of his seriousness--he even laughed spontaneously at our squeaky windshield wipers

*had his first play dates, one with Angel, one with Eliana

*experiencing a cuteness explosion. I don't really know how to explain this, but all of a sudden people are stopping me in stores to tell me how gorgeous my child is. I think it's the haircut.

*Seth's Word of the Day--he can say 'do', 'da', 'ga', 'goo', 'puh', and some other noises, but he won't babble. He'll say one sound really loudly, then look at you like, "Be impressed! I have spoken!"

*still having NO DESIRE to roll over (either direction), push up on all fours, or pull up on anything. But dang it, he can sit like a pro.

*surviving 30 minutes of enforced tummy time every day.

*taking at least one good nap a day, sometimes 2

*consistently sleeping from 8:30 to 5am, and then going back to sleep until 8am. HALLELUJAH!!!

And now, three videos for your viewing pleasure:

The links are back

Yes, I removed them intentionally. But now they're back, mostly because I can't keep track of everyone using Dashboard--some of your blogs don't let Dashboard update them, so I keep missing important things (like you, Val!).

So they're back. If I missed you, it's because I'm still working on it. I tried to leave off last names, unless I didn't think you'd care. And those of you who wanted to be unlinked are still unlinked (and any of you who would like to be, just leave a comment).

Let me know if I've missed you--I'll put you up ASAP.

A Townhome Owner's Complaint

We live at the end of a cul-de-sac with 46 townhomes in it. As you may know, one of the worst parts about living in a townhome is the lack of guest parking. The developers were kind enough to bestow us with 8 official guest spots, and there are 2 or 3 "unofficial" spots you can squeeze into.

The logistics are not good--46 homes vying for 10 spots. And here is my complaint:
These three cars belong to my neighbors. The two trucks belong to neighbor-on-the-left, the car belongs to neighbor-on-the-right. And where do you suppose these cars are parked? That's right--in three of our 8 precious official guest spots.

Let me make this clear--each townhome has two assigned parking spaces. TWO. The number of drivers in each of my neighbors' homes? Two. So this really should be simple--two drivers, two cars.

So why in the world does one neighbor have three cars, and the other FOUR?! Especially when they're living in a townhome with VERY LIMITED PARKING? Yeah. I don't know either. Neighbor-on-the-left has two Jeeps and two trucks. Why? Who needs that many cars? At least neighbor-on-the-right has an SUV, a car, and a mini-car, so there's at least the size factor.
However, NOTL uses all 4 cars fairly regularly. NOTR hasn't moved that green car since Christmas.

Do I take great joy in parking in "their" guest spots when they happen to leave one empty? Yes, yes I do. But I only do it when we have a guest coming over who will be parking in our assigned spot.

I like our neighbors. I really do. But I would like to point out that a courteous townhome neighbor would have only two cars, and would use any extra money to buy another home (where they can park all the cars they want) instead of another car (or two).