My stomach is in knots, my heart is pounding, and I'm breathing heavy. I feel like I need a good, stiff drink, and I'm not a drinker. All I can say is eeewwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First of all, I stumbled across the bug that was trapped in Jay's office. I last heard him make a noise Friday night, so by Sunday morning I was pretty sure he was dead. Somewhere in there...Of course I'm the one to find it! It's nice out, so I was in there opening his windows, and suddenly, there it was, laying on the floor. I think it must have been in the blinds, because one minute it wasn't there, and the next it was. Even though Claire kept telling me that it might not be a big bug, it sure was:

Ugh. That, though, wasn't the worst of it - at least that bug was dead! I was moving some things into the basement, and stumbled across a veritable bugland. Super UGH! First I moved our extra table leaf, and a large bug scurried out from its hiding place, taking me totally by surprise. It looked like a cricket, a big one. Luckily I had my handy dandy Dyson there, ready for use, so I sucked him up (and then vacuumed for a bit to make sure he was dead). Once I took care of the things I was organizing, it occurred to me that it might be worth scouring the place for unwanted bugs. I used the Dyson wand to suck up at least 15 spiders in various corners, and I removed every spec of web - cobweb or real - that I could find. The worst, though, was that I came across another huge bug; again, it looked like a freaking huge cricket. Luckily I spotted it from pretty far away, so I was able to sneak up on it. Here I am, feeling pretty much invincible with my trusty stronger-than-shit Dyson vacuum, and this huge bug is fighting the suction! HOLY SHIT! Once I know this thing is down there, there is no freakin' way it's going to remain there, so I have to win this battle. When it finally got sucked up I could feel it bumping down the hose. EEEWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!

I finished up vacuuming and figured that I needed to make sure these bugs were truly out of my house, so I emptied the vacuum canister into our pretty full kitchen garbage. I don't really want to see all the carcasses, but I kind of look...and there is that huge bug, WALKING!! Oh, good god...I started a mantra, just get it outside, just get it outside...I grabbed a twist tie and slowly walked the garbage can to the deck. I don't want to look at this huge, ugly, dust covered bug, but god forbid it jump out of the bag onto the play room floor! Once I got outside I started breathing again - whatever happened out there would be ok. I managed to slowly remove the bag and close it up, and then I ran it to our big outside can (I think I was muttering, holy shit, the entire way). GOOD RIDDANCE, STUPID BUGS!!! Man, extermination was not in my plan for the day!!

I'll tell you my lesson from all of this: Jay needs to do a thorough bug suck up once a week down there!

Here she comes, the baby with teeth...Kate's right center bottom tooth is finally through the gum! I mentioned yesterday that I could see pure white, and today I can feel the edge of a tooth. Yay! I can't believe she's actually going to have teeth, finally! I'm so excited to find out what she's going to look like with teeth...hmmm...

The second thing that happened was actually more exciting. Our family room/play room is sunken by one step from the kitchen. Kate moves back and forth between the play room and the kitchen all day long. When we first moved in she did a couple of head first dives down the step into the family room before she learned that she needed to wait for me to help her down. Well, since then - what, a month and a half now - I've been showing her how to turn around and step down. I've turned her body, I've done it myself before turning her body, I've talked about it until I was blue in the face. No dice, the kid just sits and waits for me (better than head first dives). Today she was playing in the pantry, and a can of pop rolled away and off the step. She watched it, and then took off. I was reading the paper with my back to her, so I watched over my shoulder. She approached the step at high speed, and suddenly spun around. I actually thought she was going to go over the edge backward, and I made a little gasp. She briefly paused, and I thought that she was going to sit and wait for me, again. Nope! She kept on going, and then stretched her little leg over the step, and there she was, down in the play room. Yay!! She did it so easily that I've got to believe that it wasn't the first time she's made her move, it's just the first time I've seen it. She did it again later, from standing, using my leg for support. She's so cute!

Kate is 11 months old today, and...she still has NO TEETH!!!! Never in a million years did I think she'd be this late in getting them. It's just so funny, but what the heck is going on?? I'm not actually worried about it, but it is a little ridiculous. As Allison reminded me, though, once they have teeth they can bite. I guess that won't be an issue for me with nursing ever, either - there's no way that in 4 weeks she could have enough teeth to cause me any pain. That's a side benefit, I guess. As my mom says, the girl is going to talk before she gets teeth! Sheesh. Really, I know I keep saying it, but the bottom two teeth are right there - huge bumps in front and on top of her gum. Apparently she has gums of steel or something. *lol* And, have I mentioned that there is absolutely no sign of anything anywhere else in her mouth?? People kept saying that she'd get a bunch at once, but I don't know about that. At the rate these first two have been moving, it'll be months before the top two come in. *shaking head*

I thought that, in honor of her almost-one-year-old status, I'd tell a funny story that I've been meaning to share. One day while we were visiting Pat and Duane two weeks ago Kate was a silly, silly girl. I had put her down for her afternoon nap without issue, but she started babbling and playing within a few minutes. She doesn't do that very much - she generally just goes to sleep - but it does happen occasionally. My rule of thumb is that if 20min go by and she's still up then I go check on her; her diaper is nearly always the problem. So, that day I went up after 20min, and before I opened the door all the way I peeked in. There was Kate, standing in her pack-n-play...pantless! Her pants were on the ground outside of her bed:

What a silly girl! I snuck back downstairs before she saw me to grab the camera. When I opened the door she was laughing hysterically, just having a grand time. Her pants were a mess - one leg was totally bunched up while the other one had obviously just been pulled right off. These pants are loose in the leg and the waist (she was in a disposable diaper), so I guess she just grabbed hold and pulled. She's never played with her pants before or since.

So, that day, it wasn't her diaper, just her antics that were keeping her awake. Isn't she so cute?

Yup, that's right, I haven't touched my computer since I posted that entry 8 hours ago. Now I'm just on for a quick post and then a few Internet errands, then I'm off again.

So, the jogging stroller. I felt like it wouldn't be too unreasonable if I could find one on Craig's List, so I did! The stroller has never been used and is only 7 months old, and I got it for $100 (vs. $250 retail), so I'm feeling pretty good about it. Kate seems to like it, and it's very nice to push. An unplanned perk of it is that it's great for Jay - he's 6' tall, and our pink stroller is pretty uncomfortable for him to use. The handle is low and there isn't much room for his stride. This jogging stroller has an adjustable height handle and is meant for runners, so there's tons of room for long strides. He was pretty happy with it, I think, on our walk up to the playground yesterday. I'm not sure if I'll ever actually jog behind it, but I do think it will get a lot of use, so I'm pretty happy about it.

Kate's almost 11 months old, which means she's almost a year old! Holy cow! I'm starting to think about weaning, and I have to admit that I can't wait! Sure, I'll miss our little games and that quiet time together, but there's so little of it now anyway that I'm just ready for us both to move on. She had already eliminated her bedtime nursing but I've added a bottle at bedtime for the time being - she was waking up between 5 and 5:30 to nurse and then go back to bed, but after filling her up last night with a bottle she slept until 6:45 this morning. Much better! I'll use up our frozen milk that way, and then we'll move over to cow's milk. I gave her a sip of mine the other night and she kept wanting more, so hopefully she'll like it ok. Anyway, it's amazing that I'm already thinking about this; the time has gone by so fast. A couple of months ago I didn't think I'd make it until she was a year old, so I'm feeling pretty good that everything has worked out.

Alright, I have things to do, so I'm off again. Hope everyone had a nice long weekend!

Isn't that always the problem? I've been really struggling to do all the things that I want and need to do lately, hence my virtually complete absence from my computer. I'm barely even checking email these days! So, I have a new plan, at least with regards to blogging, because I know there are a couple of you out there that are going to be rioting soon if I don't get on it. I'm setting a timer - 10 min - whenever I sit down at my computer, and that will be 3 times each day. That 10min is mine to use as I wish without guilt about the other things I should be doing, but it will also prevent me from getting sucked into the Internet abyss. That's been the real reason I haven't been on my computer at all - I always end up staying for way longer than I should.

OK, so that's the plan. Now to make use of the time...

Labor Day weekend was pretty mellow around here. Jay and I were kicking ourselves yesterday for not having a least a small bbq (Claire's family, at least), but what are you going to do. It was a relaxed weekend, and Jay and I both got a lot done around the house. Claire and I hung out a little - last night we had a private screening of Harry Potter (we HAD to see it before it leaves the theaters!) - and I had a bunch of time to myself, which I always appreciate. I finally got my files organized and I'm just about done with all of the remaining house clean up and organization that needed to be tackled. I just hate that stuff, but I hate having crap laying around even more! So, that all feels pretty good. The toy bins that I'd been eyeing at Target are on sale now, so I got it and set it up - it's great. Kate loves pulling the toys out of it, it looks cute, and it's easy to keep the room clean now. (I know I owe you pics of the house - soon, I promise.) We moved one of the loveseats down to the rec room yesterday. We had been intending to get a sofa for down there, but I was really starting to have issues spending any money on such a purchase, even if it was on a used couch. The loveseat is great - it looks good, it serves the purpose, and Jay is happy. It also opens up the family room/play room so that Kate has a ton of space again. Very good, all around.

Instead of spending money on a couch I bought a stroller. *lol* I'd been thinking about a jogging stroller ever since Kate was really little, but never thought I could justify it. I take decent (that is, fast paced) walks with Kate, and we do it at least 4 times a week, but it still seemed unnecessary. On Thursday we walked over to Claire's - it was hotter than heck, and I hauled butt - and after getting home I started to think that really it might be reasonable at this point to get one. When Claire later mentioned that she thought we should walk together for exercise, I was convinced. Oops, there's the timer - gotta go, I'll be back later.