Sad Day =(

I quit my job today.  I did it for the best of reasons, to stay home with my baby Ruby, but I am still feeling sad about it.

I'm really going to miss this place:

Back in the beginning of this year, my boss asked me what my plans were for once the baby was born.  I told her I didn't know.  I honestly didn't.  And when time came to turn in my contract for the 2012-2013 school year, I still didn't know.  I knew I'd want to be with my baby, but I didn't want to leave my classroom either.  Being the amazing person that she is, she told me, "Unless you know for sure that you aren't coming back, turn in your contract.  If you have that baby and in May you decide you can't leave her, I will understand, and I will not be upset.  There's many people here that would love to take your classroom if I need to replace you."  So, I turned in my contract.  

I guess I always had an out, but when my boss asked me in June when I came to visit with Ruby, I still didn't have a daycare lined up, and I was still torn on whether to go back.  In a perfect world, I'd take some more time with my girl, and then return to my classroom at our Park campus just like I'd never left it.

Except this world isn't perfect.  At our school if you leave your classroom, someone else will take it.  And if they don't want to leave when you want to come back, it's too bad for you, because they now have claim to it.  In fact, that's how I got my room with the big windows pictured above.  Another teacher got pregnant.  Her baby was even due right before school started and she came back almost right away, but in the interest of consistency, they put someone who'd be there the whole year (me) in that room, and she got a job basically as a substitute at our other campus.  Lucky for her, a classroom opened up for the following year up there when a teacher moved, but that rarely happens.  People don't like to leave their classrooms because chances are, you'll never get it back.

It's now the end of July.  Staff goes back to work in one month.  We had to make a decision, and even though I wish I never had to make it, I knew I owed it to my boss to do it asap.  Keith felt confident we could make it work financially (I'm still really scared about this part of it), and that I should stay home with her since it made me sick to my stomach to think of leaving her.

I was so scared to tell my boss.  I felt I'd waited too long, and that I was letting her down and leaving her in a hard place.  She is such a caring person, but I just didn't know if she would be upset that I hadn't made this decision earlier.

She could not have been more understanding.  She said, "Jenny, there's not a mother in the world that hasn't been through this.  I gave you an out, and I'm not mad.  And you know you always have a place here."  She said a lot of other kind things, too, and I am just so grateful to have worked for such an amazing person.  She said that when I was ready to come back, there'd be a job for me in some capacity.

Then she told me the best/most interesting thing.  She said she might just close my room for the year and disperse the students into other classrooms at our main campus.  Enrollment right now is low anyway, and there aren't even any boys in the class right now so parents might prefer it.  If she does that, there is a small chance that I could go back to my room next school year (if they decided to reopen it).  I think I will keep my fingers crossed for that, and in the mean time count myself SO lucky to have found such an amazing place in the education community.

Week in iPhone Pictures

I take too many pictures with my phone.  Ok, there's no such thing as too many, but seriously, I have a lot.  I needed an outlet for them.  Enter Amy's week in iPhone link up.  Ahhh, that's it.  The perfect way to get them out of my phone - by week!  I actually have the last two weeks here because I started this post many, many days ago, but kept getting interrupted by a little girl who doesn't take any naps.  Plus I basically have no photo-editing software, so I had to figure something out (I used Picasa).

July 15-21

Sunday: Lounging after breakfast with Grandpa.  Monday: A progression of smiles during a quick trip to visit Daddy at work.  A lovely sunset.  Tuesday:  Wearing her Ruby shirt to baby class.  Wednesday:  Squirming around on Mommy & Daddy's bed.

Thursday:  Hangin' out on the playmat, waiting for relatives to come over.  There's nothing like a freshly washed stack of diapers.  Friday:  Little Miss No-Naps strikes again!  Saturday:  Lazing in jammies.  Taking pictures of a cute outfit from Auntie Jen.  Ahhhh, finally, a nap.

July 22-28 

Sunday:  Playing with Daddy.  Monday:  Mama's bird's eye view.  An outfit that lasted about 5 minutes. Picked up some supplies at the craft store.  Trying to get away from Daddy on the yoga ball.  Somebody found her hand.  Tuesday:  Strong baby!  More hand chewing at baby class.  Handprint keepsake finally finished.

Wednesday:  A good nap.  Strollin' like a big girl.  Thursday:  Playing with her "guys".  Picnicking at the winery.  Weird-looking cloud.  Friday:  Somebody's sleeping in my bed!  Making faces.  Boppy lounging.  Saturday:  Fruity onesie.

Making these was fun!  Hopefully I'll be able to keep it up.  Go see what everybody else was up to over on Amy's blog.

Embrace the Camera

Before I embrace the camera today, lets just take a peek at how funny this picture of Ruby and Keith is:

It's like she's saying, "Um, Mom, a little help here please?"  And yes, my child is wearing "jeans" and a long sleeved onesie at the end of July.  Welcome to Washington.  Anyway...

My mom came over today, and I intended to have her take pictures of Ruby and I, but... she was sleeping most of the time!  Mom was a little bit sad, but miss grouchy-pants needed that nap.

Things have been going a little bit better on the sleep front.  Yesterday she actually slept IN HER CAR SEAT for an hour during baby class.  I couldn't believe it.  Then she slept from bedtime until, well, until about midnight because she'd busted her swaddle, but I was able to wrap her back up and she slept until 4:00 like normal.  Then after that, she slept until just before 9:00.  She woke up happy, just "talking" to herself in her crib until I came in to get her.  Which took a little while, because I was dead.

No, not actually, but I was so.freaking.tired.  See, Ruby is not the only one that hasn't been sleeping.  I've been having really poorly timed insomnia.  I usually have a lot of trouble getting back to sleep after I feed her.  Yesterday after her 4:00am feeding, I never made it back to sleep.  Barf.

I'm usually the one that puts her to bed, but she was still awake and grouchy when she finished nursing.  I was so tired, I couldn't deal.  Keith took her to her room and bounced her on the yoga ball for what he said was an hour.  It was probably about half that, but I don't even know because I fell asleep instantly.

So, here we are, embracing the camera with the only picture I took today where you couldn't see the massive dark circles under my eyes.  And trust, I made Ruby endure many a iPhone self-portrait this afternoon.  Pretty much any room we were in in the house, we took some pictures.  This is the only one I got.

I feel like I'm always making excuses for not doing a better job at embracing the camera.  But hey, at least it's happening!

Little Miss No-Naps

I don't think there's a single mom-blogger that hasn't written about sleep.

Seriously.

For the most part, we've been pretty lucky in the sleep department.  Once we got Ruby sleeping in her crib in her own room, she has been a pretty fantastic nighttime sleeper.  I know, this makes other people jealous.

I set my expectations pretty low, but she gradually stretched her first round of sleep out longer and longer (once we figured out her preferred bed time).  She's gone up to 9 hours before, but has been generally holding steady at about 8.

Naps are a whole different story.

This is the face of a child who will not sleep.

'Round here, Ruby has earned herself the nickname "Little Miss No-Naps".  Yeah, this kid hates naps.  She was doing pretty well with taking a morning nap (thank goodness, this is when I showered!), and for a while would fall asleep around 4:30 each afternoon.  In the middle, she'd catnap.

Now?  Now we're lucky if we get a 30min nap out of her.  The naps have stopped.

"Hi Mommy!  I don't care if I was yawning a minute ago and I'm all swaddled up, I'm going to keep my eyes open as wide as I can!  Isn't that funny?"

I will admit, I am not the best at picking up on her tired cues.  She can be outright yawning, however, but she still won't nap.  Keith or I will swaddle her up, and go bounce her on the yoga ball in her room, and she will plaster her eyes open as wide as they can go and just stare at you.  She doesn't even blink, I think because she's trying to keep her eyes open wide.

This makes for a very grouchy baby.

And now?  Now she's waking up more in the night!  Usually she'd go to bed around 7:30, wake up somewhere around 4:00, and then again between 6:00-7:00.  She had even been only nursing for about 5min at the 6:00 wake up, so I thought she'd be dropping that feeding soon.  Totally reasonable.  

Then she started having that first waking earlier and earlier.  Last night?  She woke up at 1:24!  Of course, she woke up again at 4:00, and 6:00.  What gives, baby?

Everything is better with sleep...

I think part of it is, she's become a champion swaddle-buster.  She even got an arm out of one of those velcro SwaddleMes.  If she gets her arms out, it's all over.  She wants them out, but she just cannot stay asleep like that.  Sigh.

Today I am trying to get her swaddled as soon as I see a single yawn.  I know with bedtime before, I was missing her cues and she would get overtired, then not sleep (seriously, do not try to put this kid to bed after 8pm, she won't have it).  This morning she took an hour nap.  Right now, she's been in her crib for 20min, but she's rolling around.  Fingers crossed, fingers crossed.  Stay asleep, Little Miss No-Naps.

And now, I'm off to go download the Wonder Weeks app for my phone.  Something tells me this may be my explanation for the lack of sleep...

Embrace the Camera

Something awesome happened.  My girl, she likes books.

I am a total bibliophile.  It is my every hope that Ruby will be someday too.  I had tried reading to her in the past... she just wasn't into it.  In the past week, however, something clicked.  She likes books!  We can sit in her chair in the nursery and read several of them at a time.  I'm in heaven.

Keith needs to work on his photography skills...

Her fave right now is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  Unbelievably, I hadn't read it before she was born.  I knew it was wildly popular though, and when I was pregnant, I used some of my Scholastic Book Club teacher points to "buy" a whole bunch of books for her.  With Chicka Chika Boom Boom came Chicka Chicka 1,2,3.  She likes that one too, especially the end sheets with the numbers on them.  Love, love, love it.  She'll also tolerate Dr. Seuss books if they're not too wordy (hello Go Dog Go!), but doesn't have the attention span for the Berenstain Bears yet.

She will.  I can't wait.

Linking up with Emily today!

Ohhh, the Cuteness

Just another Wednesday, hangin' out with my girl. =)

I heart Tuesdays

I heart them because Tuesday = baby class day.  When I was pregnant, I knew for sure that I needed to get some real live mommy friends.  Bonus points if these mommies had babies Ruby's age.  The hospital I delivered at offers these parent-baby classes, broken down into three month age chunks.  Perfect.

Except I wasn't sure I was going to go.  I tend to be pretty introverted in social situations (at first anyway).  I knew I wanted to, but...  Anyway, there was another woman in our Hypnobirthing class who was getting ready to have her second child.  She spoke so highly of the parent-baby classes she'd attended with her first child, telling us that she still had great friends from there, some of whom would even be watching her older child when she went into labor!  Ok, I was sold.

Yep, she had to wear her new Ruby shirt to class today.

I waited a long time (too long) to actually go.  I think she was 6 weeks already?  But I knew from the first class that I totally loved it.  The vibe is just so totally perfect for a brand new mom, because everyone is a brand new mom.  Everyone has all the same problems and successes that you do.  Everything your baby is doing that you wonder, "could this possibly be normal?" IS normal, and all the other babies are doing it too!  Everybody is nursing, a lot of them without covers even.  I came home the first week and told Keith there were boobs and baby butts out everywhere (because we just change them right on the floor, of course), and that I loved it.  It was a totally safe place to learn to nurse in public, and just get comfortable caring for my baby out of the house.  Add to it that our facilitator is totally knowledgeable and has a very "follow the child" slant that is right up my alley, and well, I look forward to Tuesday every week.  

It is just so refreshing to experience the sisterhood of new-mommydom.  I come home every Tuesday afternoon with a sleepy baby and a positive attitude.  You can best believe if it is Tuesday you will find me at my happy place: parent-baby class.

Calendar Girl - Two Months

Not only is my girl two months old now, she's actually 10 weeks as I am writing this.  Yep, I am still not doing so well at getting her monthly update up around the time she actually turns that month.  This time, though, it wasn't for lack of trying!

Somebody tell me this girl is going to keep those blue eyes...

Baby girl turned two months on the 4th of July.  Boy, was she a grouchbaby.  It took two different attempts just to get pictures of her in her little 4th outfit, there was no way I was going to be able to do a month-onesie shoot, too.  It actually took me two different days to get these ones too, because the first time she just wasn't having it.  As a side note, I am totally a slacker and a bad mommy.  If grandma Cheryl hadn't bought her a 4th of July outfit, she would have had none.  Why didn't I think of this?  On that day my FB was blowing up with pictures of cute babies dressed up for the holiday.  I need to remember that for next time.  Holiday = photo shoot.

Speaking of photo shoot, these pictures are pretty terrible.  The exposure is horrible.  My crappy little point and shoot has a "high" ISO setting that I pretty much have to use because she moves around so fast with her hands and feet.  But it doesn't help the exposure, and I'm pretty bummed that I didn't buy a digital SLR when I could afford it.  'Cause now I can't. =(

This girl is gracing us with her smiles more and more each day!  She's also chunking up nicely.  At her 2 month well-baby visit, she weighed 10lbs. 4oz. and was 22.5" long.  It's kind of funny, so far she has gained pretty much exactly 2 pounds per month.  She also had her two month shots.  Horrible.  Actually, she cried less at first than with the Hep B last time.  We left the office, went to Whole Foods and Jimmy John's, and I thought we were all good.  Until we got to parent-baby class.  Poor girl cried HARD, like turn bright red, scream until you run out of breath hard.  It shocked the other mommies, they'd never heard her cry like that.  I had to bounce on a yoga ball with her the whole time (she even would unlatch and cry while nursing!).  At the end, she was inconsolable.  When we got home, she passed out on me.  I missed her sleepy snuggles, but I just felt so bad for her, you could tell she didn't feel well.

My suspicions were confirmed at her appointment - she has the dreaded cradle cap.  It's actually not that bad (and you can't even see it in the pictures!).  She also has a minor flat spot on the back of her head.  The pedi said hers is not a big deal at all, and should mostly correct itself when she starts sitting up.  For some reason though, I am totally devastated about this.  I feel like it's my fault, even though I hold her all the time and she hates bouncy chairs and swings and all of the other stuff people would usually plunk babies in.  I feel totally self-conscious when we go out now, like people are thinking, "Ooooh, look at that baby with the flat head!  What terrible parents she has!"  I know it's really not a big deal, but I can't help but be totally wrecked about it.  Just typing this out makes me want to cry.

Another thing that makes me want to cry?  I've been packing away the newborn clothes.  Rubes is almost totally in 0-3.  In fact, the Old Navy 0-3 stuff is even getting too short (I've found it tends to run short and wide vs. Carter's long and skinny, which is a better fit for her).  It's fun to venture into previously untouched stuff in her closet, but it kills me that she was once so tiny we had to cuff all of the sleeves and pants on the NB stuff.

At two months, Ruby still sleeps a lot, though she isn't likely to curl up on you and sleep on your shoulder anymore. *sniff*  She IS likely, however to give you a 6-8 hour stretch at night where she's asleep (maybe this is why her head is flat...).  She goes to bed around 7:30-8, waking between 2-4 to nurse, then back to sleep until around 6.  I usually (attempt to) dreamfeed her then, and she usually will go back down until 7:30-8, then is up for the day.  I noticed she needs a nap again about an hour after waking, and like to help her with this so that I can shower. =)  She also usually needs an evening nap, but catching her before she's overtired is really hard.  In between, she pretty much just catnaps.

Apparently this post was brought to you by the number 4.

At two months, she's also started to do something that is totally unnerving to me.  Warning: it's about poop.  And poop she doesn't.  Well, she does, but she went from going 4-5 times a day to going only every 3-7 days!  You'd think that'd be great, but I hate not ever knowing when it's coming.  And when it gets closer to day 7, I get worried that she won't have gone by then and I'll have to call the pedi, and they'll tell me to "help her" go.  Ick.  The nurse told me that it might be hard for her to poop while laying down (makes sense), and sure enough, the last time she went in the Beco.  Poor kid.

In spite of all the smiles, this past month has been the month of the grouchbaby.  She's pretty darn fussy most of the time.  She's decided she HATES her car seat (insert awkward/embarrassing moment while waiting at the Target pharmacy here), she grouches in the City Mini some (a paci helps with this), and by the end of the day only a bath or bouncing on the yoga ball will soothe her.  Oh, or nursing.  She still nurses like a champ.  The things she likes when not grouching though, are music, daily walks, being held (still), her crack book, the tiger/zebra thing on her activity mat, being a strongbaby (tummy time), "talking", flirting with the boys in baby class (and her daddy), reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and tooting.  Seriously, that girl can toot.

She really seems like she's turning into a "real baby"now, not so much a newborn anymore.  It's fun to be able to interact with her more, but man, she's growing up so fast!

You didn't think I forgot the crying pic, did you?

Embrace the Camera

I am failing hardcore at getting "real" pictures of myself & my girl. =( But we did take a lot of iPhone pictures yesterday, and she's taking a great nap right now, so it may be my only chance to make a post! This is kind of like a day in my life, via iPhone.

In the morning, Ruby woke up feeling MUCH better than the day before. Lets just say 2 month shots? Yeah, they suck. Poor baby. All better now though, and ready for a donut date with our friend Julie!

Since it was 7-11, we wanted to get out and find a 7-11 store to get a free Slurpee. I don't think I've even had a Slurpee since high school. I asked Keith if he knew where one was, and he told me North Bend. North Bend? GREAT! There just so happens to be a Carter's store there!

So off we went to NB, and lo and behold, what did we find in the Carter's store (for $2.99 no less)?

Obviously she had to have that. I couldn't believe I found something with her name on it! Then again, I was kind of sad because that means her name is getting popular. Something I really wanted to avoid, being a Jennifer in the 80's.

Anyway, we left Carter's, and I whipped out my phone to find the address of the 7-11.  Yeah...  There is no 7-11 in North Bend.  Rubes and I were sad.

So we went home with no Slurpees.  Somebody preferred a clean diaper and some milk to Slurpees anyway, so it was happy times again!

We decided to try tummy time on the Boppy.  This girl, she does not love her tummy time.  On the floor, that is.  It turns out, tummy time on Boppy = success!  A happy baby, showing off how big and strong she's getting!

Pretty soon it was time for Daddy to come home.  You'd think they were doing something cute like read a book or something, but no, they are watching me fold her laundry.  He doesn't know I took this picture.  In fact, he specifically told me not to take his picture, and thought I was just getting Ruby.  I told him he needed to embrace the camera so that she has pictures of her with her daddy to look back on.  He said maybe some other day.  I decided the day was now!  Oops! =)

Pretty soon after that we strapped into the stroller and took Braidy for a walk around the neighborhood.  Both my phone and camera were left at home, so no pictures of that, and once we were back, it was bed time for little girls!

So there you have it.  A day in our life (barely) embracing the camera.  I've got to get better at this.

A Little Sensitivity Goes a Long Way

Since I just recently un-privatized my blog, and have like, no followers, I doubt anyone will ever read this.  But it is important, and it's bugging me, and I need to get it out.  I want this post in here so that I don't forget, and also so I can find the link below if I ever need it.

Today I was doing what I do best: perusing Facebook on my phone while Ruby was sleep-nursing.  Something caught my eye as I was scrolling down.  A friend had commented on someone else's post.  That person had posted the MSN article, 10 Things Never to Say to Childless Friends.  I'd read the article before, when we were struggling to get pregnant.  It resonated with me, and I had the hope that if people saw it on their MSN page (or when someone posts it to FB), maybe, just maybe it would spare a little bit of hurt from people who are already hurting.

Turns out, people can read articles like that and still be just as insensitive and ignorant.

The comments from other people stated that the article was ridiculous.  That if they had to watch what they say about something silly like that around others, then they guessed they couldn't ever talk about anything because it might upset someone.  That saying, "when are you guys going to have kids?" shouldn't cause a reaction for anyone, and if it does, they are too sensitive.  That a question like that is the same as asking something innocent like, "where do your parents live?"

My fingers were itching over the keyboard to say something, but I didn't.  I don't know the person who posted the link, and I don't know the commenter.  And my FB friend whose friend it was, is someone I haven't seen since high school.  I guess I didn't want to cause a scene.  Maybe I should have.  It's people like that commenter that make the pain of infertility SO much harder to bear.  I really wanted to ask her if she would ask someone where their parents lived, if that person's parents had just died.  Dramatic?  Yes. But people mourn the loss of fertility just as they do the loss of a loved one.  It's losing the loved one you never got to have.

However...

One was scored for the good guys today, too.  Now that Ruby is asleep, I opened up my blog reader, and saw something that put a smile on my face.  A blogger I've been following for a couple of years announced her pregnancy.  I'm pretty sure that blogger has been trying to get pregnant at least since I started following her blog.  I don't know her, but I am SO happy for her success.  I can say with almost certainty that she had to endure comments like those talked about in that MSN article, and I know the relief she must feel now that they've stopped.

I wish everyone struggling would have success as well.  To want a child so badly, but not be able to have one is the worst thing to have to endure.  It is my hope that there will be more articles like that MSN one to pave the way for just a little bit of sensitivity.  It really does go a very long way.

Will I Ever...

... stop needing to go in and check on her while she sleeps?

I love how you can just see that her right arm is up by her face through the blanket.  Don't love that she put her blanket over her face.

That picture was from another night (I couldn't believe she'd busted her swaddle already - it'd only been 30 minutes!), but every night is the same. Until I fall asleep, I periodically have to go in and check on her. Mostly I just want to make sure she's breathing. I'm blessed to have a good nighttime sleeper at 2 months old already, but when she's still on the monitor for too long, well, I worry.

Yes, it's 79 degrees in her room at 10:00pm right now.

They drill into your head the scariness of SIDS, and that sure sticks with you.  Plus, Ruby has choked on her spit while sleeping a couple of times already, totally freaking us out.  She was always fine, and able to breathe, and scream because it scared her.  And we were awake still both times, and heard her make a funny noise, and ran in to get her as she started to scream, but still...  The hallway seems so long when it is separating me from my baby.

So I'll stare at the monitor.  I'll convince myself she's fine, and I don't need to go in there.  Then five seconds later, get up to go do it.  Luckily, Ruby must have a sixth sense about me.  More often than not, just as I've decided, that's it, I'm going in, she stirs.  It is just enough to calm my new-mommy nerves.  Until next time.

Embrace the Camera

It's no lie, I hate having my picture taken.  Add in post-pregnancy weight to lose, and it's down right torture.  But I stumbled across Emily's Embrace the Camera posts.  She started them for her kids, every week making sure to take some time out to be in pictures with her kids so that they have them to look back upon one day.  How cool is that?

So for my Ruby, I will do it.  I actually meant to have Keith take some pics of us yesterday when she was all dressed up for the holiday, but, well, it was hard enough getting pics of just her.  She was quite the grouch-baby yesterday, and is today as well.  Which explains our poor quality iphone pictures.  In most of our self-portraits, she's screaming.

Like this one.

Oh, Rubes.  I love you, even if you are the grouchiest of little girls.  Camera, consider yourself embraced.

Happy 4th!

Nicknames...

... she has a lot of them.

When Ruby was in my belly, she had one nickname, and one only.  Freebie.  I remember calling her that in front of my coworker, Laurel, and it drove her nuts.  She said that was a terrible nickname for a child, and I kind of agree (but it is a great name for a fetus!).  I hoped she'd earn her own nicknames once she was an outside baby.  Boy has she ever.

These photos have nothing to do with this post, but isn't she cute??

Already we call her:

*Rubes - this one's a given.  I actually hated it at first, but it has definitely grown on me.

*Rubes McGoobs

*McGoobs or just Goobs - clearly a spin off of the above.

*Toots McGoots - apparently we like McNicknames.  Also, she is a seriously gassy baby!

*Toots

It's worth mentioning that I hate safari animals or cartoony crap for babies.  So I didn't buy this outfit for her, BUT, wouldn't you know it?  These are some great pics of her.

*Grouch-Baby

*Groucher or Little Groucher - these two stem from that fact that, well, she's crabby!

*Little One

*Peanut

*Babes or Baby

Swingin' those fists of goodness.

*Rubik's Cube or Rubes Cubes

*Rhubarb Pie

ETA: I thought of another one!!!  "Baby Bird"  We call her that because when she's hungry, she makes a little beak with her lips and opens and closes them.  Ah, my little Baby Bird. =)

And the list, I'm sure, will go on.  In fact, I didn't know the proper spelling of Rubik's Cube, so I googled it.  As I was typing it in, up popped suggestions and there was one we hadn't thought of yet.  Rubicon.  Maybe not the best nickname, but who knows what will come out of our mouths.  She's been called "Ruby-doo" (like Scooby-doo) by some family members, but for some reason that one really bugs me.  So we don't call her that.

I pooh-pooh your Ruby-doo nickname!

At our parent-baby class last week, the guest presenter asked if any of our babies recognize and respond to their own names yet.  As I shook my head "no", I thought to myself, how could she?  We call her a different name every time we talk to her!  Poor kid.

Five Years

Five years ago Keith and I had our first date.  Those years were full of moving in together, moving to our current house, getting our beloved Braidy-dog, a few vacations (a couple of them Hawaiian), buying a car, getting married, and most importantly, becoming parents.  It's been quite a ride, and I'm looking forward to the next 5!