First Santa Photo!

We got brave last night and headed off to the mall to get Meaghan's first picture with Santa.... I braced myself for chaos. Once Thanksgiving comes and goes, there is no going to the mall for me!!! Actually, it was great! Not as many people as I expected and the line for Santa wasn't a mile long. Meaghan was awake the whole time we were in line until the kids in front of us were getting their pictures taken and she fell asleep. I couldn't wake her up either so oh well. She's doing what she does best!



This was our first experience doing this obviously. The mall had a nice set up and a little "Winter Wonderland" thing going on. BUT right before it was your turn to get to Santa, they had this "great" snow machine and it was snowing on you while you were in line. Kids loved it! Parents hated it! We heard a lot of "Oh great - look at you now! You're all messed up for your pictures! Geez!!!!!". Flakes of soap everywhere and looks like instant dandruff. We tried to avoid it, pressed up to the wall, scooting past, but it ends up everywhere. The stroller was snowed on, the diaper bag, Meaghan's dress, my dark gray sweater, everything. Oh well.

We're going to Epcot this weekend because my mom is singing in the Candlelight Processional. Hopefully we can get some more pictures taken with the Santas of the world... but we're not sure they will hold her since she is still pretty young. I will try! She will not be wearing her "party dress" either... so last night was "the" night.

Update from race weekend: Bill won 3rd place in his age group for the duathlon! Congrats honey!! Meaghan and I are very proud of you!

Birth Announcements

Our birth announcements arrived yesterday! We're doing a combined baby announcement and holiday card, mostly because I'm lazy and don't want to send out two cards!!

I think they turned out really great.... thank you Tiny Prints!!



Bill and Jon are doing races tomorrow (duathlon and triathlon) and we have to be there by 6am. It's going to be an early morning!!

Meaghan is doing so well! I love my little girl to pieces! There are times where I cannot put her down. I always give her two kisses at once - one for me and one for H.

Meaghan is sleeping at good stretches at night - usually midnight to 5 or 6. I'm not complaining about that! I'm doing a better job of juggling Meaghan and working at home. My office looks like a mini nursery! She's going into daycare full time in January, so as hard as it is to do both, I'm enjoying our time together. We listen to a lot of kids songs during the day... Meaghan really likes music. That's a treat for people that call me during the day!

And for all those wondering - we love our cloth diapers!! I LOVE taking out fresh warm diapers from the dryer. There is nothing better. It is much easier than I had thought it was going to be.

Here's a few more recent pictures...





Happy Friday everyone!!

1 Month Well Visit

Meaghan's stats as of 10am this morning....

9 pounds, 12 ounces
21.5 inches long

We think that the length that was taken at her 2 week check-up was wrong because it was exactly the same as today. I also think the way they measure her is completely unscientific and produces weird numbers. I am not worried.... she's a healthy girl! She's growing out of her newborn clothes but the 3 months outfits are still too big. When she has a cloth diaper bottom, we definitely have to go up to the next size on the bottom!

I never did tell everyone that our first post-placement visit that we had last Thursday went really well. It was with the same social worker that did our original homestudy, so she loved seeing where we've ended up since January. Our next one is going to be right after Christmas!

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

You Are Donner

The most loveable and sweet reindeer, you're also a total dork! Why You're Naughty: You keep (accidentally) tripping the other reindeer while flying. Why You're Nice: You're always smiling, even if you've fallen flat on your horns.

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

TPR Completed!

The final TPR (parental rights termination) court hearing in Iowa for Meaghan's birthparents took place this morning. All of their ties have been officially and legally severed. Every state is different how they handle this. We were never concerned about this hearing because after the revocation period had ended when Meaghan was a week old, someone would have had to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that fraud was commited. That wasn't going to happen! So even before we left Iowa, we were in the clear.

So now it is Florida's turn to get moving for finalization! It is possible we will have that done around February or March. It is nice to be past each little step.

I got my new camera yesterday.... well it's new to me anyway. I bought Jon's Nikon D200 because he purchased the new D3oo for himself. You can imagine what I've been taking pictures of.... hmmmm... wonder what that could possibly be!? I'm quite enjoying myself. I also think my old digital camera was dying, it has been acting strangely. I also realized why I was getting blurry pictures, especially in low light conditions. It has a shutter lag of almost 1 second so after I had pressed the shutter button, I was already moving my hand down while it was still taking the picture. What a pain, not to mention a lot of crappy pictures!!! I don't have the most steady hand either. The D200 is a digital SLR and the actual click and feeling of the shutter movement is very satisfying!!

Meaghan has a peds appointment tomorrow. I'll post her new stats. I'm sure she is over 9.5 pounds!