My new home...

Here is a link to my new home http://mayaroad.typepad.com/deb/ - check me out there when you get a chance! TypePad has some really cool functionality and I will be updating and testing it out in the next few weeks.

We are moving....

Well, okay, so technically not "we" and not really physically. Caroline and I have been debating it for quite awhile now, and we finally decided to move to TypePad Blogs once and for all. It has been a tough choice since Blogger has been great (and free!), but we want to be able to use some more the functionality including better images for showing off projects and new products. It will happen over the next few weeks, so you will probably not notice anything for a bit. But we cannot wait to see you there! When you get a chance, please check out the auctions to benefit Jen G's family. Her son recently passed away, and bunch of 2Peas and companies got together to help raise money for her. Click here to see the new items: Jen Gallacher Benefit Auctions

I am 11 months old!

• I am 11 months old!
• I learned how to walk - though I still prefer to crawl
• I visited North Carolina and Georgia for the first time
• I am eating mostly table food
• I love yogurt, rice, bread and of course, CHEERIOS!
• I hate changing my clothes and prefer to be in my birthday suit
• I learned how to stand up in my crib and it keeps me from sleeping because I just walk around and around and around
• I like to crawl off my changing table and had a few close calls recently
• I love to walk aroundand around the table pushing everything off
• I still do not feed myself which drives my mom and dad crazy!
• I am 29.5 in and 20 lbs 10 oz - about the same size as cousin Noah
• I dance by shaking my tooshy when Daddy plays praise songs on his guitar
• I love computers and will crawl, walk, push to get to any keyboard
• Barnyard Dance is my favorite book! I will drop everything to listen to mommy read it
• My Aunt Karen gave me sort of a funky haircut and daddy thinks I look like a Romulan (not pictured here)
• I learned how to clap so I do it all the time! Especially when daddy is trying to feed me

Until next month! Can you believe I am turning 1 year old so soon? Feels like yesterday I was still in mommy's tummy...

It's official - we have a walker in the house!

Jonathan has been on the verge of walking for sometime. And now he has done it. It is not elegant or really dramatic (as his daddy would like), but it is walking. He is like a kiddo with training wheels on his bike. If you hold his arms, he will walk. But if he senses you are gone, he sits down and crawls away. For a few seconds, you can let go without him sensing and he will keep on running for a few steps. Then he notices and leaps for the nearest piece of furniture and throws himself down. If D brings out the computer, he will trip to walk over to it and throw himself on top of it. It is quite cute... :)

An afternoon at the park...

Here are a few photos from our visit to downtown Los Gatos, a cute little town a bit west of San Jose. Jonathan played in the grass, enjoyed a dip of his hand in the fountain and enjoyed the pretty June day! And Jonathan sort of walked today! I say sort of because we were in the church infant room, and he pushed away from me, took a full step backwards and then stepped forward and into my lap. Does that count? I tried to get him to do it again, but he is a bit tentative about pushing off for too long, and he is always grasping for a hand or table. It has been super busy as we work on the next release. There is so much going on, but it will be awesome! We have some creative fun things coming out and our samples are coming in each week. And tomorrow a bunch of new stuff is arriving for us to review. I cannot wait!

What makes you - You?

David and I were watching Face Off a few years ago. And off and on, David and I chat about it. If you have not seen the movie, Nicolas Cage and John Travolta switch faces, one in order to infiltrate a criminal organization and the other to get back his own face. The truly unbelievable thing is that the way you look is only a very very small part of what you are. I mean, even if someone else looked like David (at least by face), there is no way he would not know the little crazy things that are just between him and me. Each couple has their own little language, and their marriage is a dance that they have choreographed over the years. There are a million little things that are unique to us. Being fromt he south, I like Jeff Foxworthy's "You know you are rednec if..." skits, so here is a list of "You know your husband has been replaced by a maniac if..."

• he puts the toilet seat down! (self explanatory :)
• he grabs the red pieces when we play Settlers (David HATES the red pieces because he says it makes him look too obvious)
• he grabs raw chicken with his barehands and starts to chop it without whincing first (Hates raw chicken)
• he listens to a Pairie Home Companion without making fun of it
• he throws away a tea bag after making a cup of tea (Gasp! What a waste!)
• he wears socks to bed
• he wears anything but old t-shirts around the house
• he doesn't stand at Jonathan's crib to stare at him at least 10 mins a day
• he puts on the Duke jacket I gave him without asking why he cannot have a UNC jacket instead
• he brushes Jonathan's teeth - ever!
• he complains about changing dirty diapers (David is a saint with those stinky ones!)

Anyhow, here are a few photos of J on our trip last week... he is still a bit under the weather, and so am I. So not a lot of new pics. I will post more tomorrow.

J and me in front of his grandparent's house

J with his grandpa

J on the long car trip around the South munching on his sock

J with his grandparents

Congrats to winners of the RAK!

I love all of the ideas!! They were really fun, and you will not believe it... Let me just say that we have set our line for Summer, and some of your wishes will come true sooner than you think! LOL! Our samples just arrived today though it went to C's house, so I have not seen it yet! DH picked two numbers from the list, and the winners are... DRUM ROLL PLEASE?

Wendy and Sheetal

Congrats to you! Email info @ mayaroad.com with your address, and I will get you something out in the mail! We are busy busy with the Summer products while also getting some new fun things in the works. One of our coolest ideas is not a product, but something you can love! We are collaborating with some of your favorite fellow manufacturers on something new. I cannot wait! Until then check out the new projects the Maya Road Design Team Blog... There are some cool projects there! And this is one of my favorite blogs... A Journey So Far. For some reason, I lost the link to it, but it reappeared today in my google toolbar. Andrea is a wonderful inspiration and she did something really cool with her MR ribbon scraps on May 11th.

Coming together...

Keep your ideas coming! The RAK drawing will be held tomorrow, so you still have time. Just post your comment on yesterday's blog entry with what you would products you like and what you want to see... The power of the internet is an amazing thing. I was surfing the 2Peas boards today, and I saw the eBay fundraiser for Jen's family. For those of you who are not familiar with the story, Jen's little boy passed away recently from cancer after a multi-year struggle with the disease. And the scrapbooking community has really come together to help her family though this time including cards, scrapbook pages and financial support. If you are inclined, please take a look at the auctions and bid. I hear they will be adding more soon as more donations come in. Auctions to Benefit Jen Gallacher's family As I write this, my little one is sleeping soundly in his crib. And I cannot imagine the pain of losing someone who is a part of you like that. David does not even let me talk to him about it because it is so hard to bear. So please please as you hug your children tonight, keep Jen and her family in your thoughts and prayers. To read more about the fundraising efforts, click here for the fundraising blog.

Some good reading... (RAK)

I have been reading Harry Potter. Last week, we were in Atlanta, and I was without reading material. So my friend lent me a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcorer's Stone. I had read about 4 chapters during a CapitalOne job interview just out of B-school, and I had forgotten all about it. Now I am on book 3 and bought the rest including the pre-order of book 7. LOL! They do have a nice discount on a box set and the preorder. So I figured, why not? It is a well-written, interesting series for young adults. I particularly like how it really spears the Law of Unintended Consequences. Sometimes when you do something wrong for the right reasons, strange things happen. And sometimes when you do the right thing, the results are not what you anticipate. It has a lot of morally subtlety, and it is just a fun ride. :) Right now things are a bit hectic. I am working like crazy on the final items for CHA Summer. We are going in some new and fun directions and it will be so much fun. But we are also going back to our roots in some ways too. It is all about keep it fresh, fun and usable. You ain't seen nothing yet! In honor of this week's fun, I am hosting a RAK! I will send an assortment of MR items from my stash. Just post a comment with what you would love to see more of from us! You have until Wednesday midnight to write something. And my DH will pick someone...

A new Maya Road ad...

Here is a peak at our new Maya Road ad! I spent hours working on this over the weekend, and I got the inspiration from a layout I recently did for Jonathan. :) Speaking of the little guy, Jonathan was a little under the weather, so we hung out together with him playing in his play pen next to me as I worked on this. One thing about Jonathan. He has been a great sleeper. Slept through the night at 2 months, rarely wakes up in the middle of the night, etc. But recently, he has learned to stand up in his crib. So instead of crying for 3 to 5 mins and then falling asleep, he now stands up in the crib and cries and cries. And we have to go in there and pay him down since he does not know how to sit back down yet. Ugh! So now, naptime and bedtime are much more of an ordeal. I hope this passes soon...

I am 10 months old!

Wow! Can you believe that it has been 10 months? I have been outside of mommy's tummy longer than I have been in there.

• I learned how to clap - and I love to do it! It makes me smile. :)
• I lost a lot of weight so I am on a yogurt, butter and olive oil diet. Mommy and Daddy force feed me all day and night to fatten me up like the doctor said. It is messy.
• I am a carbaholic. There is always room for bread, rice and cheerios even when I clamp my mouth shut for regular food.
• I love to cruise around the room on any type of furniture. I once even grabbed a leaf to hold me up and almost took a tumble. I can now run if I am holding the hands of my mommy and daddy.
• I hate to sit down. When I fuss, Daddy or Mommy stand me up and tell me to "walk it off".
• I still refuse to feed myself. No matter what anyone tries, I will not pick up food and put it in my mouth. I will pick up the food, but I will drop it purposely once I get close.
• I learned to use my palm against my Mommy's mouth and make Indian call noises. I laugh hard about it.
• I love to throw things off the coffee table and tear magazines. I especially like scrapbook magazines because they are colorful.
• I visited NC, SC and GA for the first time!
• I can only say "dada dadadada". It drives "mama mamame" crazy!
• I have no inside voice. I shout "DA DA DA!" in restaurants and airplanes and other places.
• I prefer my Daddy to hold me. I lean over to his arms whenever I can. He is a lot of fun because he lifts me up high, rolls me around and lets him sit on his shoulders.
• I no longer have a Spock Ear. Mommy taped it back down and it looks much better now. (see below) Mom has the same Stahl's ear just like me, and Grandma took care of hers for her!

BEFORE / AFTER

See you next month!

Crazy trip

Here are some photos of our trip. I am totally swamped getting things done, so not much time to blog. It was so great to go back to the Southeast. There are some things i really miss about life there. Let's see... we hung out with several friends - and their houses! The smallest one we saw was 3100 sq ft in the middle of Atlanta. The largest was about 5000 sq ft on the outskirts. And there was the brand new one in Raleigh at 3600 sq ft. All less expensive than our tiny 60 year old house. It was eye opening...

• Saturday, 5th - Flew from home to Dallas - stopped to see little Caroline and family and a special treat, we saw Lisa and Heather from the DT - then onto Raleigh to hang with the in-laws
• Tuesday - Drove from Raleigh to Augusta to see the parental figures
• Friday - Drove to Atlanta to see friends
• Saturday - Drove from Atlanta back to Augusta
• Sunday - Spent part of Mother's Day in Augusta and then drove to Raleigh
• Tuesday - Flew through Dallas to see Caroline and then back here

Jonathan took it all quite well. He is quite the world traveller. He has been on 8 flights, 2 continents, 5 states and more. Here are some nice pics...

Jonathan with his Grandpa and his Daddy.

Jonathan with us

Jonathan with his Grandparents

Jonathan at Shelley Lake

Until tomorrow!

We are back!

We just got back in town after 10 days of vacation visiting Jonathan's two sets of grandparents. It was impossible to blog because our parents have dial-up, really slow dial-up... It was nearly unbearable to be without the internet, but then again, we spent 10 days with Jonathan and our parents without interruption. I need to run to bed. I will add photos of our trip tomorrow. The 2GB digi card is still downloading...

Mirror Mirror on the wall...

This is for his grandparents. We had large glass doors put onto our bedroom closet just before Jonathan was born. Sometimes we take J inside, and he visits his friend that lives behind the glass. He wonders who that cutie is.

And sometimes he even gives the other baby a little kiss... :) J is growing up so much. You can see the little ear tape. His ear is looking good though it does need a bit more work. So back to the tape it is.

I only have a few minutes since it is so crazy. Designing like a madwoman. :)

Great deals on photos and babies

My favorite gift idea are photos in a collage frame. I do this for a lot of special occasions, and it is a fun way to give something that your friend may not get to do on her own. I take photos and select a few I like, buy a nice frame and viola, at the next birthday, baby shower, christmas, I have the perfect gift. I usually get frames that match the personality of the friend. So someone with a modern sleek decor would get a silver metal frame, and someone with a traditional home would get a more formal oak one.

• 11x14 photos for $1.99 at Adoramapix - I got the $2.99 metallic paper ones since those got fabulous reviews. You can pay with PayPal (see promo below)
• Get 100 free prints at Winkflash - Use this code VP32WE54
• Buy frames for 55% off at Kohl's - They have nice frames for 55% off this week plus get a $10 coupon for each $50 you spend. And shipping is free above $75.
• Get $5 off $20 PayPal purchase - Check here and see if you can get $5 off $20 purchases with PayPal - they only sent these to some folks, so you need to enter your email address to check

One more really great deal -

• 25% Amazon baby stuff - Sign up for a baby registry and just at least 15 items in it by May 31s. Then they will send you a 25% coupon in June. And you can use it on any baby item. I plan to buy A LOT of diapers with that coupon. :)

Just a few thoughts...

I took Jonathan to the doctor for his 9 month appointment this week, and he lost 1 lb in the last 4 weeks! I am a bit worried since he seemed to have just gone through the stomach flu and teething and is losing weight. All of this is not good for a developing baby... :( He also just started to crawl and cruise, so I bet he is burning a lot of calories. And the whole not eating as much thing due to the teething and sickness is bad. I was SO sure I would stop nursing this week after the appointment, but the doctor asked me to continue until 1 year for his sake. So back to the pump I go... David has taken to feeding him constantly stuff like yogurt, cheese and such. The doctor suggested adding butter and olive oil to all of his food, but we are not huge fans. We did add a little olive oil onto the bread, but that is about it. I also found out that Jonathan has Stahl's ear. (love how the article says "Orientals"). I had the same Spock ear syndrome when I was born, and my mom rolled it back. My dad used to say that I had it because she watched too much Star Trek... :) (since David is such as sci-fi fan, I guess the same could be said for J) Mom rolled it back for me, butI have been sort of slow getting on fixing J's ear. So I started taping it down to roll it back forward. Here is a few cute photos of J as he is crawling about. He will crawl only for cords (Xbox controllers, a digial scale cord), electronics (cell phones, blackberries) and paper (especially scrapbooking magazines and taxes). Never for toys. Who knows why? I took a couple of shots of J watching for Daddy to come home... He likes looking out the window to see the cars go by. I am deep into finalizing the summer products. My friend Susan's hubby named our newest item, and he is a tech geek. So there is a hint for you. I cannot wait to show you all! It matches a lot of what we have now so you can coordinate... Time flies so quickly! We have such awesome things happening at MR. Some of it is product and some of it is different. But all of it will make your scrapping easier and more fun. Promise!

Falling in Love...

eHarmony

I am 9 months old...

• I learned to crawl at exactly 9 months old, but daddy thinks I do it like the Terminator 3 or army guy
• I have a 3rd tooth coming in from the top right
• I have a few words in my arsenal, "da da da", "di di di", "nai nai nai"
• I love cords, especially on mommy and daddy's xBox
• I hate feeding myself and I refuse to put my hands near my face when I am in my eating chair
• I have lost some weight since I started crawling because I like to move about more than I like to eat
• I had the stomach flu
• I like to crawl in circles looking for something cool to play with
• I like to play with paper and magazines especially those pretty, colorful scrapbooking magazines
• I can walk along the wall of my playpen to make it to my little piano table
• I love electronic equipment especially cell phones and blackberries
• I like to spit and blow raspberries
• I love sitting on daddy's shoulders to move around, but I have hit a head a couple of times
• I am a carboholic - I can always eat bread and cereal even if I refuse all other food and milk
• I love to look at my hands, and I can sit there and admire them for hours and hours...

A couple good deals - including a great one on scrapping stuff!

I have been so busy lately, but I found a few deals that I wanted to share. I am so busy, so I only have a few minutes to stop by...

• EK Success Scrapbooking Kit - This Amazon tool kit is only $19.99! It was originally $75 and includes a cool organization bag, Cutter Bee Scissors (I got mine at Wal-Mart for $8), a Cutterpede paper cutter, Zig pens / glue, Herma glue, corner punch some embellishements and more! Add something that is $5 to get free shipping...
• Carter's Store - $5 off coupon. Not sure if this works, but I saw this one on a message board I frequent.
• Pampers - I was telling my sister about how I found this weird powder substance on my changing table and sometimes on J. She said it was the absorbent gel from Pampers Cruisers. So I called them and asked them about it to make sure it was not dangerous. They wrote back with a link explaining it was safe, and then a few days later, I got a bunch of coupons for diapers with an apology. That is really great customer service.

Here is a pic to share with you! :) J is teething so he has been crying a lot recently. I was holding him bouncing up and down on the exercise ball, and I started to hiccup. He cried, I hiccuped, he laughed. Then he would cry again. And I would hiccup, and he would laugh. C pulled out my camera and took a few cute photos...

C and I have been discussing whether to leave blogger for another service. It is annoying to post images one at a time and there are weird things about this site. Any suggestions for where to go for a good blog service?

A scrapbook page...

We were asked to email a "memory book" page for the 5th reunion of my GSB biz school class. I was just going to do the usual thing. Stick on a couple pics and write a few words. I was 50% done, when I thought, wait... I am a scrapbooker. Why not actually make a layout instead? So I did. I took a basic outline from LO I did for HOF, and I adapted it to make a digital page. While it was interesting to do a digi-page, it was somehow just not as satisfying as playing with paper and products. In fact, most of the ideas I used were straight from my paper pages. I guess I do what I know. :) For some reason, it feels less "real" to me. I still like this page, but if you look at it next to the paper one which inspired it, I just feel more attachment to the physical one. Perhaps it is because I have the x-acto knife scars to go with it! LOL! I put the LO at the bottom of this entry just to tease you... We are working on our taxes. It is SO hard to do with our jobs and business. TurboTax is a miracle product, by the way. It is amazing they are able to distill the crazy tax code into a relatively easy to use piece of software. Anyhow, back to the taxes before David catches me typing in my blog. I have about more than a dozen windows open right now including:

• 3 important powerpoint presentations for work
• a conversation with my China agent for the shipment going out this week
• the packing list for the shipment arriving this week
• the super secret final list of summer products (shh...)
• the designs for 2 new products
• the CHA winter order form
• NPR - On the Media streaming radio program
• Turbo Tax Home and Business
• a list of everything we donated in 2006
• this blog page
• 2peas forum about scrapbooking
• a few photos for my next layout
• Picassa to organize my photos

Anyhow, need to run. Here is my LO. :)

A weekend with C and N

Man, we are tired. Noah and Jonathan had a crazy ole time together. I got the Lil Playzone on eBay from a store called Happy Go Lucky Toys so that we could keep J and N from going nuts all over the non-childproof house. I got 4 sets for about $100 each including shipping and tax (2 were for my friend) which is much less than anywhere else. Tax is only in CA. It is better if you get 2 sets and combine them since the extensions are more expensive and with getting a whole set you get an extra door and activity wall (with music and toys). It was fun to see Jonathan and Noah playing with the baby music keys built in on the walls. I looked at a ton of play yards and most looked like baby jails, but this one was less cage like and more fun. Caroline kept saying "They can have a cage fight in there! Are you ready to rumble?" J loves it. He can roll around and play in there all day.

David told me a funny story. So when we left him with N and J to go to The Scrapbook Nook and Picture Me Perfect, he went to the library with the two of them. J was strapped on his chest on the Baby Bjorn, and N was in his stroller. He said that a lot of people asked if they were twins. And he said that laughed since they do not even look like they are the same race. So he said he thought of the funniest response. Next time someone asks if the two of them are twins, he would say, "Well, they have different mothers!" LOL! I guess technically that is true, but well, anyhow... :) Lots of other funny stories and pictures, but I need to go to bed. I am taking C and N to the airport tomorrow morning. We spent the weekend finalizing the Summer product line. We are bursting with ideas since Jan, and it is time to pare down for the new release.

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Funny comment - a bunch of the stuff from my desk

Caroline has in her blog that she is a "critical optimist", and I asked her what that makes me. She said "overextended multitasking optimist". LOL! That is true. If you look at my desk here is what you will see:

1. All of the 2006 shipping statements for MR as I do the end of year review for accounting
2. A bunch of product samples - some we made and some we did not
3. A wrist support for my carpel tunnel
4. An Easter card from my cousin for Jonathan
5. Some flex spending receipts from 2006 I need to file
6. A shoelace - I had David buy it the night before my HOF entry had to be sent out because I could not get my crafty combo to work - I used one of the shoelaces on that LO, the other is well, here.
7. Some packing tape - 2 rolls, one for USPS and one for non USPS packages
8. Coupons for free pantyhose
9. 2 MM grommets I wanted to use on a HOF LO, but I went to 3 Michael's and could not find a grommet setter, so I had to digitally put it into the LO by scanning it
10. 2 digital CF cards
11. A scrunchie a friend left that I keep wanting to send to her
12. A yard of San Francisco In the Park City Ribbon
13. 1 little yellow velvet blossom
14. My DH's favorite CD - Rich Mullins's "Legacy, Litergy, and a Ragamuffin Band"
15. A gift certificate to BabyAge from a friend that I have not figured out how to spend
16. A nearly empty much-used 200 count container of antacid
17. 2 bill I need to pay
18. The manual to my new cell phone
19. Some Canon lens cleaner and lens tissue
20. A bottle of Desitin someone left from play group 2 weeks ago that I have been meaning to return
21. My secure ID key for VPN
22. $20 my nanny found in my pocket when she was going through my jeans to wash them
23. A sample roll of Fresh Ribbon that I used to measure my son's length the other day
24. A Colorbox Chalk eye ink
25. Some thank you notes I have been meaning to write

I could go on, but you get the picture. :) This weekend our church is having our 3-day experiment. I decided to write at least 3 notes to people who have made a difference in my life. I really wish I told many people many things along the way, so I will take the time to do this now. C is coming on Wednesday and I cannot wait! It will be fun just to hang with C and little Noah for a few days. We will be working on finalizing all of our CHA Summer products! I cannot wait!

Pet Peeve...

I am kind of annoyed right now. C and I work hard to come up with new ideas to launch each show, and we have brought some new and fun ideas to market. We toil for weeks to come up with cool stuff with a Maya Road twist. And it is great fun. But recently someone stared copying our stuff. I do not mean like imitation, I mean like copy. And it irritates me. Go ahead and be "inspired" by us. I mean, if you think of a cool new idea for a chipboard book shape, great!! I might even buy one or two. But there is one company just outright ripping off our designs. At first it was a few things. Now they are adding to their list. They even brazenly come to our booth at the shows and study our products. Then they not only try to make the same thing, they do it in a cheapo sort of way. So it is of inferior quality, but they are of the same design and dimensions. We are not the only company they are doing this to, and it annoys the heck out of me. It takes time and money to develop new products, so they are trying to save money by stealing. We try to keep our prices low for customers by focusing on the products and doing almost everything ourselves, but stuff like this makes it harder for us and other manufacturers to make the products you know and love. Anyhow, enough of the rant. Jonathan had a great weekend with us. We hung out and played and just did family stuff. Here are few photos for you. I know I post a lot of J photos on my blog, but it is mainly because his grandparents and other relatives like to come here and see what he is up to. Jonathan and a book from his friend, Hannah. It is his favorite book.

This is J and me at playgroup at Elijah's house. He hated napping in Elijah's bed (hard as a rock), so I brought him back down and hang with me as we ate. And he was so tired, he sort of just fell asleep there.

And our future computer geek in the making...

Until later... Have a great week!

A little happy news...

I won CK Hall of Fame Honorable Mention! Just wanted to share the happy news. You know, this is my 4th year entering, and honestly the 44 pages (used to be 12 and now it is 10) I have made for the contest are my best work. In fact, they are pretty much my only work. LOL! Caroine is the Queen of the 15 min layout, and I am the one who takes 2 days to even finish. And that is like working 5 or 6 hours on it. :) I do love scrapbooking, but with Jonathan, Maya Road and work, I have not had much time. In fact, I decided to enter while we were at CHA at the end of January. I saw Jeri, Monica and CD, and they really convinced me. Jeri and Monica also got HMs (yeah!) and well, you know CD is the world's best scrapbooker (that is the unofficial title I think... :). I basically had 9 days to put together the whole entry, and I barely slept. I am glad I did it now, but at the time, I was ready to quit. I am definitely not a great scrapbooker like the other HOFers and HMers. No false modesty here. I am just not in that league. But my pages are emotive, the photos are solid, and the journaling is good. And man, I am great at the final assembly. Consider me the Sanjaya of scrapboooking - j/k... I cannot wait to see my LO in the final book. I hope they pick the one I did of David and Jonathan together called "Daddy and me". That is my favorite! There is so much going on, and I have much more to do. And I need more sleep. Thanks to everyone who encouraged me through that last stretch, especially DH, Caroline and Jess. And the 2006 HMers. And my mentor, Leah!

Some random thoughts...

I got up this morning at 4:45 am after going to bed at midnight for a quick jaunt to LA. Talk about burning the candles at both ends. But I am so excited. C is coming to visit with Noah next week, so we are going to paint the town. Well as much as you can paint the town with two babies. :) I have been meaning to scrapbook, but there is so little time. We have so much going on with MR that is it hard to keep up with everything, so I just give up on the little things like cleaning house. (if C's DH comes, he will be appalled) It is not neat, but it is clean. That is my philosophy. Because J has started to roll around and around (mental note: clear glass coffee table + babies = not so great things), we decided that instead of childproofing the whole house, we would get a large play yard for him. So it is sort of a fence for babies with 50 sq ft of space. I am ordering one from eBay now, so I will let you know if it works out. This is J in his play area. He has a lot of toys, but his favorite is his old Zantac medicine bottle (back right). Go figure... And the quilt is byJessica. He loves it! I have so many great scrapbook page ideas in my head, but I just need to get it down. I put myself on a buying diet. No more buying of scrapbook supplies until I get 2 more pages done! That will take like 2 weeks... haha! Here is J with some of his friends. The one in the middle was crying in most of the photos, and J was just kicking back on the right. The little one on the right is still wearing his "crash helmet" head shaper, but as you can see above, his head is a perfect little Charlie Brown crown now. :) Congrats to all of the brand new Hall of Fame winners and HMers! It was exciting seeing you gals post your calls. I cannot wait to get the book...