Ah, so finally, she's back! That's what you're thinking, right? Sorry to have been lame this week - with my mom around my routine has been eliminated and blogging just hasn't happened.

We've been having a great week. We spent Tuesday and Thursday in Ashburn with Claire, Anna, and Molly, and those were fun days. Unfortunately, yesterday (Thurs) Kate went down for her first nap really early so we had to wait until she got up to leave Arlington, so we got to Ashburn a lot later than we'd hoped. Either way, we've had fun. Wednesday my mom, Kate, and I went sightseeing in D.C. We wandered a little around Georgetown and then went to see the war memorials and the Lincoln Memorial. It's so neat to have that all so close by! Today the three of us went down to Alexandria. We went to River Farm, one of George Washington's (the original GW) farms. It's now the headquarters of the American Horticultural Society, so there are some nice gardens. We'd never seen so many butterflies! Anna would have loved it - maybe someday we'll make the trip from Ashburn with the three kiddos. After the farm Kate napped in the car and we got lunch. Then we went to the darling old section of Alexandria (either Old Town proper or just adjacent to it) and went in a really cool art co-op and in a bunch of neighborhood shops. It was a gorgeous day out, and we had a nice time.

We'll spend this whole weekend with Claire, essentially - tomorrow with her girls and Sunday without them. The weather has cooled a bit so that's really nice. Claire's A/C broke earlier this week and man, yesterday was rugged over there. It'll be a lot better tomorrow since it's cooler.

Jay is out of town again - he's in Orlando now. He left Tuesday morning and will be back Sunday evening. Tomorrow is our 6th wedding anniversary! Time flies...

Kate is doing great. She definitely had roseola, and while the worst part of the rash was on her face and behind her ears, she did get bumps all over her back, arms, and chest/stomach. Sheesh. I'm pretty sure she got it in the waiting room at the doc's - next time she'll be confined to a stroller and she's not touching any of their toys! Her teeth haven't come through, but they really seem to be close. Her gums are getting really white (center bottom), and if you look down on the gum you can see that the edges are right there. I'll be sad to lose her darling toothless grin, but it's going to be fun to see what she looks like with teeth!

OK, that's it for now. Hope everyone is having a good week!

It seems that Kate's teething may have been the culprit with the fever. They're not here yet, but they are definitely on their way (soon!), so maybe she's just a kid that gets a fever for a couple of days before the teeth pop through. Her temp Saturday night dropped with the Tylenol, so that was good, and she actually slept ok that night. Yesterday (Sunday), she kept the low grade fever thing, but she was pretty much fine - a little fussier than normal, and she wanted to be held a lot. After a particularly fussy period I thought that it was probably teething since she was only at ~101, so I gave her some Motrin for the pain. She went down for a nap soon after that, and she woke up totally drenched in sweat. Claire suggested that her fever had broken, and I thought we were in the clear. Nope. Around 10 last night we were back in the 102 range, so she had some Tylenol. Besides another disgusting diaper overnight, still no symptoms. Today she's been in the 99-100 range, so that hasn't been bad. I haven't called the doc because I really think this is about teeth. If she still has a fever tomorrow morning I'll bring her in - we'll be in Ashburn anyway, and that's almost 4 full days with a fever.

Anyway, last night totally sucked sleep-wise. Kate was up every hour from 8-2, then again at 4, then at 7. AY. I'm really hoping that this is all about teeth and we're almost over the hump...

On a positive note, my mom got into town last night. We were supposed to meet her at Claire's for dinner, but with Kate feeling so punky we stayed home. My mom got here around 7:30, and we hung out for a couple of hours. She'll be staying with us for the next two weeks - one week in our apartment and then, FINALLY!!, one week in the new house! Yay! I can't wait to move...

OK, everyone else is sleeping and I think I'll join the party...

I can't believe it's Friday night. All week I was having problems figuring out what day it was. I don't know what my issue was - maybe I was delirious from the lack of sleep. *lol* It really wasn't that bad, but I am feeling pretty darn tired at the moment.

OK, so an update. Wednesday night Jay got home, like I mentioned, but her sleep was horrendous. I slept in her room again, and she woke up every 1 1/2 - 2 hours. At 3:00, after getting her back to sleep one of these times, I went to the bathroom in our room, and Jay said, have you gotten any sleep? It seems like she's always crying. Yeah, pretty much. (Kate has no use for Jay in the middle of the night, generally, so that's why I just continued on that night. Luckily yesterday morning I was able to sleep an extra hour and a half after she got up...ahhh...) So, Wednesday night was a big bummer. Yesterday evening I met my new friends  (they're from Claire's mom's group that I'm now a part of) for coffee out in Sterling and left Kate in Jay's hands. I had put her to sleep around 7:15 and headed out. I got home at 10:30 (I hit horrible traffic on 66, stupid road work!), and I hear Kate crying. Oh brother. So, I hightail it into our bedroom to get ready for bed quickly in case Jay's really having problems. Well, out he comes, and Kate just went to sleep. It turns out that she woke up around 9 and was up until 10:30! AY! He said that she kept looking to the door to see if I was going to walk in - pretty cute, but a little disturbing too. Anyway, I went to bed around 11 and she woke up at 1ish - I nursed her since she didn't have a dream feed earlier - and then again at 5:45. Not too bad, huh? Now, if we could just get her to not wake up right after going to bed...

She's been doing this since Saturday. She wakes up ~1-1 1/2 hours after going to bed and she's just up. For a few days I brought her out to the couch to sit on my lap and watch tv quietly with me for about 30min, but then Wednesday that didn't really work. It didn't really work for Jay last night, either. So far tonight she's been asleep for almost 2 hours and hasn't made a peep...*crossing fingers*

You know, the baby mantra is 'the more you sleep, the more you sleep.' That is, the better they sleep at night, the better they nap, etc., etc. I've been thinking about this and thinking, yeah, with Kate's sleep so screwed up at night, it's not that surprising that it's continuing. Maybe, just maybe (*crossing fingers again*) last night was a turning point. One night of pretty good sleep could set the stage for another one and then we just might be on track to have a lot of good nights in a row. Just maybe...(and then maybe I can stop talking about this!!) Of course if we get to have lots of good nights in a row it's all going to go to pot anyway when we move in a week and a half. We'll just plug along!

Kate just woke up crying after sleeping for a little less than an hour, and I was so happy to send Jay in there to deal with it. Yay, he's home!

I was almost done giving Kate her bath when he got home tonight, and when he walked into the bathroom she pretty much spazzed out. She was SO excited to see him, it was just the cutest thing you've ever seen. She was so antsy to get out of the tub and play with Daddy. So, so cute.

We're both happy he's home, but I'll be even happier if he can do some magic to make the kid sleep tonight...

The start of a new album (can you believe Kate is 9 months old?!?!) means the end of an old one, so make sure you see the photos I posted at the end of her ninth month album. As always, feel free to tell me how cute my darling is!

OK, so that entry got really long so I thought I should start a new one.

Kate's doctor appt went well yesterday. Her stats: 20lbs (75th percentile) and 27"(25-50th percentile). Her head is in the 50th percentile now. She was declared 'perfect' yet again (by a different doctor - it must be true! *lol*) and didn't need any shots. We liked the doctor a lot (Kate actually started fussing when she left the room for a moment), and we'll be back in 3 months.

Last night Kate got up every three hours. Not great, by any means, but not every hour and a half either. She was up (and nursed ) at 11:20, 2:30, and 6. I slept in the bed in her room all night - it's so nice to be right there when she wakes up, none of this traipsing around in the middle of the night. And the bed is so big and comfy...I can't wait to move back into our own bed! Jay and I have been sleeping in separate twin beds since we moved and it's getting OLD. Anyway, we slept late this morning, and I'm feeling ok today. Yesterday I was ready to crash at 5, but managed to stay up until 10 (I couldn't miss The Closer!).

OK, that's it. Just wanted to update you all on those two things.

Man, I really need to get to the store. My staples are completely depleted, and I'm starving. Actually, I'm a lot hungrier these last few days - I think maybe my increased milk production (with all this overnight eating!) has hit my tummy.  Anyway, I'm hungry enough that I was just momentarily considering Kate's food as an option...

Speaking of Kate's food, can I just say that I make darn good baby food? Man, I'll tell you, it's really tasty. I've also been completely convinced of the feasibility of prepping and freezing food when it's in season. I'm a fruit person, always have been, and summer fruit just can't be beat. Kate is quickly turning into a fruit girl herself (quick list: apples, pears, peaches, plums, raspberries, apricots), so I've been buying massive quantities for her. It's been so easy to make large batches of 'sauce.' Applesauce is so much better when made fresh than it is from a jar (I've known this for a long time), and things like pears, peaches, and apricots are excellent on their own or mixed into the apples. The first time I prepped peaches for her I was slightly disappointed in the results. I had peeled (dunk in boiling water 45-60 sec) and chopped the peaches before pureeing them, and the result was just ok. This time I cooked the suckers, and man, I have a winner on my hands. I think I'm going to seriously make a huge amount of it while peaches are in season to freeze for over the winter. I guess I'm just a little surprised by how good everything tastes out of the freezer. I told Claire the other day that I doubt I will ever buy jarred or canned fruit again, because my fruit is so much yummier, fresher, and cheaper. On a side note, I made Kate a chunky mixed fruit the other day - diced cooked apples, diced apricots, and diced ripe banana with a little chunky applesauce in for bulk. It also froze and thawed beautifully, and she loved it today. It's the first really chunky thing she's had and she did a great job eating it.

Not to go on and on about this, but I have to give a shout out to the veggies in my freezer as well. Acorn squash and sweet potatoes are champs at this whole freeze/thaw thing, and cooked/pureed carrots are super yummy too. The real surprises, though, were the broccoli and green beans. I'm not a fan of either, but after cooking in the microwave and pureeing they are the most mild flavored things you can imagine. In fact, I've been totally convinced of the feasibility of adding pureed veggies to food to boost their nutritional value - sauces and meatloaf come to mind, but I'm sure there other places to squeeze them in.

This is all just me thinking down the road when Jay and I are each working and have more kids. I grew up with a family dinner every night (always made by my mom, never take out), and I'd like to aim for that for my family but it's not easy to accomplish in a two-career household. It just makes a lot of sense to invest a small amount of time (say 5 or 6 hours on a weekend day) to cook and freeze down enough food to be used for a month or two as sides or 'boosters.' Especially for things like mashed sweet potatoes (better for you and way yummier than white) that take forever to cook in the oven (I know you can microwave them, but they don't carmelize and aren't as tasty) -  to be able to just pull out enough for dinner the night before and do a quick zap to warm them. That's the way to go.

Anyway, that's my two cents about cooking for today - from someone who likes to cook but somehow does very little of it...

Last night was worse. Kate went to bed right around 7:00, then woke up at 9:20, 11:15, 12:45, and 2! AUGH! At 12:45 I was just completely confused - why in the world was she waking up so frequently? I remembered what Ann (the nurse who moderated the support group in Seattle) used to say: when she'd hear about an older baby waking up every 2 hours she immediately suspected teething. Since my toothless wonder has been drooling rivers for the last week, it seemed like a real possibility. I gave her some Motrin in case that was the situation - I didn't want to be getting up every 90 min all night long! But, she woke up at 2 anyway. That was the hard one - she was upset but really awake. So I climbed into the bed in her room and made her lay with me until she was drowsy. I put her back in the crib a little after 3, and I climbed back into that bed in case she woke up again soon - at least I wouldn't be wandering across the apartment in a stupor! Luckily she slept until 6:45, but she was still very tired (obviously!), so again I brought her into the bed just to have some quiet playtime. At 7:15 she went back to the crib and we slept another hour.

This is the kind of day that I would normally say, ok, I give up. I would take a shower but not do my hair, and I'd sleep as much as possible while Kate napped - three days in a row of this is really taking its toll. The problem is that Kate has a doctor appt this afternoon in Ashburn, so after she gets up from her first nap we're going to head out (that way she can get in a good nap at Claire's before the appt). So, no slug behavior from me today. The other reason to just stay home and laze around - it's supposed to hit 98 degrees and humid today! AY! We'll be running from one A/C situation to another, I guess - no walks to the park for us for a couple of days...

On a more happy note, Claire spent the day with Kate and I yesterday and it was terrific. We went to this huge mall a few blocks from our apt and had a blast looking for summer clothes for the kids (next year) - everything is on clearance right now. I also got a gorgeous pair of shoes...We just had a fun few hours wandering around, and Kate was a good baby like always. Of course her mommy forgot a pacifier so once she was getting tired it was time to head home...but that was fine. We had lunch and hung out, worked on Claire's resume, played with Kate, got dinner, gave Kate a bath, hung out some more. It was a really fun day, and after 2 days all alone with Kate it was so nice to have someone around. I can't wait to move to Ashburn so that we can just hang out whenever we want to.

Speaking of moving to Ashburn - two weeks! The current tenants are moving out on the 21st, so we extended our lease to start on the 23rd. That day we'll do the move in inspection with our property manager, and then we'll do some cleaning in the afternoon. Tuesday we have to be out of our apt and our stuff is being delivered by the moving company. Yay! I cannot wait...In a very happy coincidence my mom is coming to town next Sunday and staying for two weeks, so she'll be around to help out with the moving in process. What a treat to have another set of hands, particularly now that one set of hands is always occupied with Kate. Anyway, I cannot wait to be in the house...

OK, I need to shower. I'll post Kate's stats later on after her appt. I can't wait to see how much the chub weighs!!

And you know when the moment is happening at 4:45 in the morning it's not a good one. We have a downright situation over here, folks, and I need to tell you about it.

So, right up front, I have a confession. Kate hasn't slept through the night since we left Seattle. There was the time zone thing, the trip to Pat's, and the whole new place thing. A couple of weeks after we moved I mentioned it to Claire and she said, well, you know this is all still pretty weird for her. Then we go to Rochester, and now things are completely horrendous. Do you remember when I was considering the dream feed option and was afraid that it was just going to set her body into a routine of waking to feed every few hours? Well, here we are. She's been waking once a night, generally between 2:30 and 4, and I've been nursing her. Why? I don't know...it's the easiest thing to do, mostly. Add to that the fact that we're in an apartment now and Kate can cry really loudly, and I just haven't had it in me to work through this. Silly, silly me. Because, totally predictably, things have gotten worse.

Ever since we've gotten back from Rochester (the last week), she's been up twice a night. She wakes around 9:30 and I feed her - not quite a dream feed, but in the right timeframe. Then, she wakes between 1 and 2, crying. I nurse her. Then, again, between 3 and 4. I don't generally nurse her then, because I know there's no way she's truly hungry. But I go in, pick her up and get her back to being drowsy. All of this waking up has pushed out her getting up time to around 7, and later if it was a bad night. I don't think it's a coincidence that the problems I was having getting her to go down for the night this week correlated exactly with this later rise and shine time.

So Friday and Saturday naps went great. Two long naps (2x 2 hours on Friday, one 3 hour and one 2 hour on Saturday). On Friday afternoon around 4:30 (with 2 naps already under her belt), Kate started to lose it and show all of her I-need-a-nap symptoms. At first I thought, no, only two naps. Then I thought, what, am I crazy? I know my baby, and I know there's no way she'll go down for the night now, even if I can get her to stay up until 5. So, I let her take a nap, from 5-6. And lo and behold, she went down for the night without any problems at 7. Great, I thought, this is fine. I almost blogged about it, I was feeling so smug. Then, the kicker. After waking and nursing at 1, she wakes again at 3 - wide awake, totally happy. WTF?? After 20 min of trying to get her drowsy, I brought her back to bed with me, because I was not wide awake and totally happy. Eventually she fell asleep, around 4:15 - only to wake crying at 5:45. I nursed her then and put her back in the crib, and we both slept in until 8:00. Saturday naps went great, and bedtime was a breeze. She woke at 9:30, like always, and then again at 1. Then again at 3, and that's when the fun began. I had a feeling that this was going to be a repeat performance, so I brought her into bed for about 20min before deciding that this was not the right answer and wasn't working anyway. Back to the crib. Well, she wasn't happy and was making a lot of noise - not crying per se, but not happy. I laid in bed and listened to it, vowing to not go in there. After 30 min and a slow escalation, I figured I should at least peek to make sure she didn't have her arms stuck again or something. Of course she saw me peek, and then things get out of hand - which is exactly why I hadn't gone in there. I lay her down, give her her pacifier, tell her to go to sleep, and leave. Then the screaming/choking/coughing thing starts, and I have to go back. 30 min later, I was able to put her down to sleep, and I haven't heard a peep since. So, in case you've lost track, that's an hour and a half. AGAIN.

I had a fun day planned out, and now it's going to be totally ruined because I'm going to be too tired and I know Kate is going to nap too much again. Should I wake her up for the day at 6:30 to try to get some semblance of her schedule back? Should I restrict her napping to 2 hour naps? Should I keep her up later? *sigh*

When we were getting ready to leave Seattle I told Jay that I thought we should invest in a really good vacuum since Kate was going to be mobile soon. Our house had hardwood floors, and we had an area rug that I really tried to keep clean with a lightweight Hoover vac, but it was clear that neither it nor my full size Eureka were really going to be able to handle the cleaning the way I wanted. Kate puts everything in her mouth, be it a chewy toy or a random ball of cat fur...It hadn't been too much of an issue in Seattle because she wasn't very mobile. Now that she is truly mobile the time is upon us to take some action. We have a crappy vacuum in the apartment, and I've been running it every two days or so even though it's not super effective, and it's driving home the need for a terrific vacuum.

[As a side story...Normally I vacuum while Jay keeps Kate occupied, but since he's out of town today I had to do it while she played on the ground. Well, the little twit was chasing me around! Forget being scared of the big, loud machine - she was laughing and wanted to check it out. Ay, this kid...]

So, I've decided that I'm going to seriously invest and get a Dyson. I've done some reading and I've heard things in the past, so I'm sure that it's worth the serious money I'm about to shell out for a vacuum (on the plus side I can use one of Bed Bath and Beyond's 20% off coupons). So I've been doing some reading and I just can't decide if we should spend the extra dough to get the 'animal' (aptly named because it's intended to deal with pet fur) or just the regular old yellow one. I've read lots of great reviews about the animal, but what I need to know is whether it's really necessary to upgrade. If I get the plain yellow one will I be unhappy? Can it handle the pet fur? The only difference in the vacuums is in the attachments that come with it - the motor, filters, etc. are identical otherwise. I'm getting mixed views from online reviews about whether or not the animal attachment is really useful/necessary.

Anyway, I've had vacuums on the brain. I just feel compelled to make sure the floor is as clean as it can be...

OK, my mood is better this morning. I didn't get a great night of sleep, but that's ok - Kate is just too cute to be upset with. Since we weren't home last night she didn't have her bath, so we did that this morning. That was a fun way to start the day, and since we weren't aiming for bedtime at all she just played and played. Very cute. She's been sleeping for over an hour and a half, and I'm hoping that she makes it for a full 2 hours. Maybe we should aim for 2x 2 hour naps everyday...something like 9-11 and 2-4 would be perfect. I can dream, right?

What I really need to aim for is finding a job! There's an brand new research center in Ashburn, and it would be just about the perfect place to work. There's one job posted that I'm going to apply for, but I don't think I have the experience they're going to be looking for. Never hurts to try! I'll definitely be sending that in today. I also posted my resume to washingtonpost.com, and I got an email this morning with a list of possible job matches, so I need to go through them and see if there's anything interesting there. I just eliminated 75 (out of 100) matches in no time - I'm not going to be an engineer, a nursing professor, or a front door attendant in my lifetime...I guess the search engine isn't so specific, huh?  Anyway, I really need to get my butt in gear. As much fun as Kate and I have, I'd like to see some adults sometime, and I know that the more time that passes the harder this is going to be.

Oops, I hear the munchkin. Almost two hours - not bad!

Man, there are so many things I've been meaning to write about, but I never seem to have the energy together to actually type out my thoughts. Partly I think it's this stupid table I'm using as a desk - my shoulders are all crunched up on it, so my endurance at the keyboard is not very great. That's the only excuse I'll make - let's see if I can get my act together here...

The most front-of-mind topic right now is Kate's screwed up sleep. It all started last week in Rochester and it's just continued. Last week we forced Kate to nap on the go, if she napped at all, and as a result I had a very upset, overtired baby on my hands for 4 or 5 of the 6 nights we were there. It was hotter than heck for 3 of those nights, and it really put me at my wits end. Friday night I had to wake her so that we could all go back to my mom's to stay overnight (we'd had dinner with my dad and Linda), and that was the worst. She carried on and on and on at my mom's. The only thing that calmed her was to lay next to me in bed and stroke my hair. Anyway, that was last week - totally out of whack bedtimes. This week has been no better even though we're home. The last few nights she's gone to sleep between 8:30 and 9 although we try to put her down between  7 and 7:30. She's just refused to sleep. Apparently she's been taking one too many naps, and I'm going to have to change that. UGH.

Today we did a little running around and then went to Claire's for the afternoon and dinner. She fell asleep in the car about 10min before our last errand, and I woke her up, knowing that she wouldn't fall back asleep after we were done. After a while at Claire's she took a nap. I think it would have been a really long one to compensate for her disrupted nap earlier, but she woke up with the goings on in the condo, and she wasn't too happy about it. Cut to dinner time. She's lacking some of her nap sleep, and we're approaching bedtime so she's on the edge. So after I helped Claire clean up we hightail it back to Arlington (can I just say that I cannot wait to move to Ashburn!) only to have her fall asleep about 10min from home. Again, I have to wake her. UGH!!!!! Now, here we are, an hour and a half later - almost all of that time spent crying - and she's just now falling asleep. (I've been writing this in bits and pieces to tend to the crying baby - once she starts coughing and gagging I know I need to go in to help her out.) And here we are, almost 9:00 once again. I have got to get her onto a normal schedule again, and I think that may be a hard (i.e., unpleasant) task for a few days.

I also don't know what to do about going to Ashburn to see Claire and the girls. This has been a problem everytime we've been out there for dinner - her bedtime is disrupted either when I wake her to leave or when we get back to the apartment. It's only a couple more weeks, maybe we should just not go out during the week; I'm afraid that we'd hit traffic if we tried to leave mid-afternoon on a weekday...although maybe if we left around 2ish it wouldn't be too bad...

Anyway, I'm ready to have my normal, happy, non-screaming, regular sleeping baby back. I figured it would take a week to work last week's goofiness out of her system, and we're approaching that time. (On a cute note, when I went in there 15min ago she was standing in the crib screaming - I had to smile just to see her standing there.)

Alright, maybe that's enough for now. I'm tired and Jay is in Seattle until Wednesday (UGH!), so I might just hit the hay early tonight. I'm tired and Kate's screaming has worn me out for the night...

Kate is quickly mastering more and more things. A week and a half ago she started to crawl on her knees. While we were in NY she frequently tried to pull up on things, but wasn't successful. This past Monday she started to pull up on her activity table without any assistance. So cute! She's still trying to pull up on anything vertical: the couch, the coffee table, the wall, our legs...I wonder how long it will take her to develop the strength and coordination to just heave herself up on things that are higher than her table.

I've been giving Kate water in a sippy cup pretty much since she started on solids. We started without the valve in, me holding it up for her and water just pouring into her mouth. We've been doing that for a long time so that I can make sure she gets water. I put the valve in (to make it spillproof) when she's going to play with the cup or when it's being transported - those times when I'd prefer it didn't spill. She's drunk from it with the valve a couple of times. The most impressive was last week at the amusement park. It was HOT, so I really wanted to make sure she wasn't dehydrated. Well, I held the cup up and she just sucked it down. Since then I've only given her the cup with the valve in since she'd clearly understood that she needs to suck to get the water. Well, last night she had her cup on the tray of her booster while Jay and I were eating dinner (after she'd finished hers), and lo and behold, the kid picks up the cup, tips it back, and drinks out of it. Holy crap! She did it repeatedly, but I'll be interested to see if she does it today. She doesn't tip it very far back, so I'll have to be sure that it's pretty full everytime she has it, but her head definitely went back.

Our little munchkin is getting so big! I was commenting to Jay last night that when her head is on my shoulder her feet go past my waist...no more little baby!

420 miles each way, but Kate and I are back home. The trip yesterday afternoon went fine, but it felt longer than it had on the way up to NY. The three girls are definitely good travelers, though - I guess they're going to grow up like Claire and I did, traveling long distances to see grandparents. Hopefully they'll make the trip more than once a year!

Kate and I didn't get home until almost 11:30, and we were both beat. She got up this morning at 6, but was clearly still completely exhausted. She nursed and then was up with Jay for about 20 min. Then, back to bed until 10:15! Ah...I really needed that sleep. It makes the day feel really strange when it starts so late, but that's a small price to pay. I didn't get enough sleep on a single night that I was in NY, so I was in a sad state when we got home last night. It's definitely going to be a few days before I'm back to normal, I think.

Kate seems to be thrilled to be back to sleeping in a crib with her pink blanket! Last Sunday I headed out to Claire's to help with the party prep, and Jay and Kate met me later on at the party. I had left the blanket in the apartment so that she could nap with it, but Jay didn't think to grab it when they came...so, no pink blanket on the trip. That was definitely an issue that we struggled with. There was an unfortunate amount of screaming at bedtime this week, mostly because Kate was overtired from being hauled all over town, missing naps, and being kept up late. The overtiredness would have happened with or without the blanket, but calming her to sleep would have been a lot easier if she'd had her blanket to nuzzle. Obviously she got through it, but I felt bad that she didn't have her favorite blanket - that won't happen again.

So today has been pretty mellow - hanging out with Kate, catching up on email and bills, just stuff around home. I think that after Kate goes to bed I might run to the grocery store for some basics. I have to be home by 9, though, to see "The Closer!" I miss having a DVR...

Tracey, thanks for all the pushing to take photos! I added an album of pictures from the last week...