It's Alive!

I had a happy ultrasound today. I love those. I'd post the picture that they gave, but at 6 weeks, it really doesn't look like anything yet. Just a little fuzzy spot. It was much cuter in motion when I could see its tiny little heartbeat flickers.

Now I just need to take my astonishing amounts of medication (I think I could actually rival my Dad for the number of pills I need to take, though I guess at least I only need one injection a day) and settle in for--hopefully--another 8 months of worrying for no reason. And then the fun begins.

Tagged

I am sorry it took so long to write this up.
I know more than most people do about birthstones.
I want to go back to school to learn something, not just to get it over with.
I have three and a half beautiful children.
I wish someone would buy my house already.
I miss the circus in my kitchen and my Maypole Dance hallway.
I fear almost everything.
I feel loopy at night after I take my medicine.
I hear the buzzing of the computer, and not much else.
I love the quiet of school hours.
I smell not much today—I’ve got a cold.
I crave palmitos (palm hearts) and anything with cream cheese in it.
I search for a pen every day—where do they all go?
I wonder why this little exercise is taking me so long.
I regret very little.
I love my big crazy family.
I care for more than I always let on with my actions.
I always wanted to be a gypsy and travel all over the world, not to mention wearing the beautiful brightly colored skirts, scarves, and thick jangly jewelry.
I am not a gardener. Seriously, I can’t even grow weeds in a garden.
I believe things eventually work out to the good.
I dance badly, and only alone in my living room.
I sing loudly along with Indigo Girls or Pink Floyd when I’m angry.
I don't know how to make numbers dance in my head, the way Terry can.
I fight like a mama bear for my babies.
I write stories for children.
I lose most of the time when I play games.
I win only when I try to convince people that I don’t win all the time.
I never know what to say or how to act when I’m around people.
I listen to Philadelphia Chickens and other kiddie music when I’m cleaning.
I can whistle almost indefinitely without taking a breath. Sometimes I catch myself whistling and realize I’m happy, and I didn’t even know it.
I am scared of losing another baby.
I need something warm to hold and keep my heart together.
I am happy when I am making something beautiful.
I tag, ummm… who reads this? Maybe Jody and Angie... anyone else (you're safe this time, Monica)

Cheeky Monkey

Linda and Ashley discuss strategy in an intense game of Cheeky Monkey.

(for anyone who doesn't know what Cheeky Monkey is, I don't know, either. Some sort of card game. But all the cousins just LOVED playing it with Uncle Dave over Christmas)

Snow Day?

We had a light dusting of snow last night (seriously light--it was only barely more than what Monica posted about playing in in southern California last month). I didn't think too much of it, but sometimes the powers that be out here are real wimps about things like snow and ice. Not that I mind much...I am, too. So anyway, on a whim, I looked up school closings online, and there it was! I was so excited to send the girlies back to bed at a quarter after 6 this morning.

Now the only problem is there will be limited play in the snow, at least for the Linda. Friday afternoon was so warm, she didn't even notice that she left her winter coat and gloves at school. Though how her teacher--who is concerned about the cold when I send the girlies to school with socks but not tights under their (long) dresses--could have missed the lack of winter coat, I do not know...

My Brush with Fame, or Babysteps in Networking

I'm so excited. I just placed a signed bookplate into one of my newer books--Sucks to be Me: The All-True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (Maybe) by Kimberly Pauley. It's not the first book I've gotten signed, though it might be close--maybe the third? But it was probably the coolest, because it's from someone I know (ok, only virtually, but still...)

As a true wanna-be writer, I am on several writers' e-groups. Mostly lurking, trying to glean as much information as possible and turn into a "real" writer by osmosis, I suppose. But this Christmas, the discussion turned to books that they've been reading (with Christmas as the perfect excuse to buy more books, of course). Several discussions on Twilight got me to try that series (which I completely love and am nearly as obsessive about as any other Twilighter--now on my 5th time through the set. I think. I'm starting to lose count). But after a few times through Twilight, I decided I needed to expand my horizons, so I entered the YA section of my bookstore and found Kimberly's book Sucks to be Me, which was also discussed onlist quite a bit (since Kim is an active member of the list). So I read her book, and took her up on her generous offer to listmembers of a signed bookplate to place in it (it's really cute, too, with a picture of a bat on it). And that's something for me to consider if I ever have another book to want to promote.

So here's my plug for Kim's book. It's a great story. A fun and easy read--not intense at all for a vampire story, but mostly about family and growing up. With a lot of vampire jokes and situations thrown in. The characters are great, particularly George (who she meets at her vampire information classes). I don't think I could say enough good things about his character. I wished for the story to continue so I could get more scenes with George, but alas....

I'm back! Busy holidays

OK, so I haven't done anything this month but read. I've happily flung myself into the world that I lived in 11 years ago--18 years old and madly in love--as I've read through the Twilight series of books three times (and dragged Terry to the movie twice). The first picture below is one Terry took of me in my "natural habitat"--curled up on the couch with a book. It's been so many years since I've allowed myself to just enjoy reading more than picture books (my attention span has deteriorated and it takes a good love story to pull me into much longer anymore). It's been tons of fun, and I'm not sure that I'm ready to give it up yet. Who knows, I might just branch out and read something else sometime, though right at the moment I'm still having fun with Bella, Edward, and the rest of the Cullens.

Despite my inattention to the rest of the world, I actually managed to pull off one of my best Christmas holidays yet. It's just a good thing I had everything ready before Thanksgiving. Everything went very nicely, and now 2 days later we still haven't hit the major post-holiday crash that typically comes within 10 minutes of opening the last present. But maybe that's because we had something even more fun than Christmas presents just the day after--a visit from Uncle Bob--my oldest brother, who's usually in Scotland or traveling around the world. Almost as big a surprise was that Uncle John came to spend the day, too. Though he's only a half hour away, he rarely comes to visit (too many scary little girls). Bob played on the Wii with the girls (in the pic below with Marty). Just after this picture, they all played Wii Bowling, where Linda creamed everyone with an amazing 6 strikes in a row (and one or two more after breaking her perfect streak in frame 7). She was awesome! No form, no setup, but strike after strike.

Today was another special day. Terry and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary. We'd already had a night out, so today was a family fun day--especially since we were also celebrating Linda's five-and-a-half birthday. So strange to think that, though I'm fairly certain I've spent at least 10 of those 11 years mostly pregnant, my littlest baby has been with me for half my married life. So today we watched some of our Christmas movies--Tinkerbell and Wall-E, went out to lunch for some popcorn chicken (next pic of me and my girls), and went to Build-a-Bear to get bride and groom elephants to celebrate eleven years together. The girls were not happy to be in the store to not get anything of their own, so I completed the family with 3 baby pachyderms. The last pic for the day shows the happy family--Elebella and E. Phant and their little ones Emerald, Emmy, and Moonstone.

So that's the end of my current holiday adventure. It was a fun, whirlwind of days. And now I can take a deep breath and rest for all of 3 days before the next holiday is upon me. I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season, too.

Two for the Tooth Fairy

Chrissy lost a tooth at school today. She brought it home in a bag that had a cute card on it that said "Hip Hip Hooray! I lost a tooth today!" Immediately on entering the house she went upstairs and put the tooth in her tooth fairy pillow.

After I tucked the girls in for the night, panic ensued when Chrissy checked for her tooth and couldn't find it in either of the tooth fairy pillows in the room. So I was called in to help with the search (nearly impossible in the girls' room, despite it having been cleaned just 2 days ago). We searched the area around, and then I asked to see the pillow that Chrissy was fairly certain she had put her tooth in. Digging deeper than little hands would go, I found a tiny tooth shoved into the root area of the tooth-shaped pocket on the pillow. Relieved, Chrissy replaced the tooth a little less deeply and set it under her pillow.

As I was getting up to go, I moved to put the other tooth fairy pillow away, and noticed a tiny lump in the root area of that pillow's tooth-shaped pocket. Sure enough, there was a second tooth in there. Marty was briefly excited that she might get some tooth fairy money for it, but I explained that there was statute of limitations on lost teeth. Besides, she was fairly frequently paid for lost or otherwise missing teeth (like her first TWO!, that she swallowed). Also, that particular pillow had been mine when I was little, so for all we knew it was one of my old teeth.

We finally settled on putting both teeth into Chrissy's tooth fairy pillow to make sure that the tooth fairy received the correct tooth. Phew. Now we can all sleep in peace. :o)