Taking the entrepreneurial plunge
I know I haven’t blogged in a loooooong time so I’m going to try and make up for that in the next week. First a short post. I have started a website and a new business. While the baking isn’t new, I’m adding to it by doing cupcake decorating parties. I really really think that this is something that is going to be very popular and will be popping up in the near future so I’m trying to get ahead of the curve. My long term plan is to make enough money so that i can open up a store and bake and host parties there in addition to doing them on location.
I’m very excited. I am also proud of myself. In addition to actually coming up with the idea and starting the business, I did the logo design and web design myself. I have definitely learned a lot and now let the real fun begin – getting the word out 
Introducing Painted Sugar
Vacation journal – CA Wine Country and Canadian Rockies
I know I haven’t blogged in a long time, but I some very good excuses!! We moved into our new house (pics to follow in a future post), we were out of town for 10 days (subject of this post).
Marc had a conference in Sonoma, CA followed a week later by one in Banff, Canada so we decided to make a vacation out of it. It was wonderful!!
CALIFORNIA: It was hot, hot, hot in Sonoma and Napa. I’m talking 102 degrees hot. Dry heat that makes your skin feel like it’s cracking. But only during the day. At night and in the mornings was cool enough that I needed a jacket and long sleeves. We stayed in Sonoma at the conference hotel – nothing special but it was not bad. We arrived on a Thursday into San Francisco and rented a car, stopped in Sausalito for lunch and some walking around. Marc realized that he forgot his jacket so we also stopped to buy him a new one. Our first night in Sonoma we went to John Ash & Co. for dinner – it was amazing!! I wish I could have been more awake. After being awake until very late the night before and only sleeping for 3 hours b/c of an early flight then factoring in the 3 hour time change, I was ready to put my head down on the table and nap. The food really was excellent though! The next day, Marc worked in the morning and I slept. My fantasies about going to a spa were quickly taken over by my exhaustion. I relaxed in our room – read a bit, and slept off and on until he was done working around 3. We then headed to Healdsburg mainly b/c my favorite winery has its tasting room there – La Crema. It is a cute and charming little town. We walked around for a bit, had some wine then went back to our hotel. For dinner we went to Johnny Garlic’s – the restaurant co-owned by Food Network’s Guy Fieri. I am a huge fan of his so I had to try it out. Loved it! It’s family style casual but with an upscale feel. The menu selections are what you would expect at a family style restaurant, but with a twist. We asked our waitress about Guy and she said that he is in the restaurant all the time. He lives in the same town so whenever he’s in town he goes in. Apparently very nice and friendly. Saturday we spent touring the Sonoma County wineries. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant in the town of Sonoma. We switched hotels to one that was a little closer to the wineries. For dinner we drove back into Sonoma and ate at The Girl and The Fig – one of the better known Sonoma restaurants and one both of us had been to before. It did not disappoint – food was excellent. Sunday we went to the Napa wineries and then drove back to San Francisco and had a casual dinner at a Chinese place near our hotel.
Monday was a wasted day. We flew to Calgary via Dallas. Long day of flying. Seemed silly to go all the way to Dallas to come back up to Calgary but that was the only option. We got into Calgary late and just rented a car and went to our hotel – all 3 of our meals that day were either in an airport or bought at an airport and eaten on a plane – yum.
CANADA: Tuesday we slept in a little and then headed out of town. On the way however, we stopped at Olympic Park – the home of the 1988 Winter Olympics, some events anyway. It was neat to see. They have the ski jump towers, luge and bobsled tracks, downhill tracks, etc. Very neat. It was a bit of a ghost town because they had closed for summer and were waiting for winter. After that we headed to Lake Louise. We stopped in Banff for lunch on the way at Melissa’s – a yummy little place that is apparently a Banff legend, it was very good and we were starving. After our quick lunch we headed on to lake Louise. The scenery is amazing. So different from what we are accustomed to seeing in S. Florida. We arrived in Lake Louise just in time for the snow to start – flurries at first then a bit harder. It wasn’t cold enough for it to stick but it was so cool to see. We were staying at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise – one of the most breathtaking hotels I’ve ever seen. It reminded me a bit of the Overlook from the Shining and if there was a haunted hotel, this was it for sure. We had a suite that was dead center in the back of the hotel facing the lake, we had a beautiful, uninterrupted view of the whole lake and the glacier that feeds it. We walked around the hotel a little then went to a restaurant at the hotel for dinner, Walliser Stube, a Swiss fondue place. I know you’re thinking fondue? Like Melting Pot? No. This is the 5 star totally kicked up version of fondue. The concept is similar but so so so much better – there was nothing left when we were done!!!!
The next morning we walked around the lake about halfway. The weather was beautiful – crisp and clear. The color of the lake is a beautiful aquamarine. We then headed up to Jasper. First we stopped at Lake Moraine which was just down the hill from Lake Louise. It was freezing. It was so beautiful there that I really wanted to spend more time but it was so cold and the wind so biting that I just couldn’t, I had to get out of there after not too long. We then drove to jasper via the Icefields Parkway, the only road to and from Lake Louise and Jasper. It is a 2 lane road that cuts through the Canadian Rockies. This road is impassable in the winter, with avalanche warnings every few miles. Along the way there are glaciers that reach down from high in the Colombia icefields, huge evergreens, beautiful oaks that were changing and were a beautiful gold color, aquamarine lakes and rivers, waterfalls, and snow. We began to see the snow gathering on the pines and firs – Christmas Trees! We stopped many times along the way to take pictures. As we drove into Jasper, we spotted some elk along the side of the highway just hanging out. We then went to our hotel – another Fairmont, this time the Fairmont Jasper Lodge. Very different – more of a log cabin inspired resort. One main building and various outbuildings. We had a suite on the far end of the property with a fireplace. Before we went to dinner we tried unsuccessfully to start a fire. We ate at the hotel, The Moose’s Nook Grill, this was a restaurant with regional cuisine – lots of seafood and meat. It was very very good – one of the best meals we had eaten to date on the trip. My maple glazed salmon on a bed of barley was amazing!!!! After dinner we asked a guy at the concierge desk to help us start a fire and he gladly helped so we had a fire going in our room
Thursday we began our drive back to Banff. This time we stopped at a few spots to sightsee. Athabasca Falls, Sunwapta Falls and we did the Colombia Icefields tour. This tour takes you from the visitors center to the Athabasca glacier. We have to go on a specially designed bus with massive wheels. Once there, the temperature was about 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Freezing. And slippery. We were on ice high up in the mountain. It was spectacular though. We then continued on towards Banff. Our last hotel (so we thought) for the trip was yet another fairmont – this time the famed Fairmont Banff Springs. Marc checked us in and I was on the phone. When we was finished he came over to me with the good news – they had upgraded us to the Presidential Suite!! He said the woman who checked him in was surprised too when she saw it. This is a 1500 sq ft room, high up in the hotel with a private elevator entrance. I think we were in shock. The room was huge and spacious, the view was just unbelievable, 360 degrees, the largest room in the hotel and the highest point, also the most expensive, the front desk told us it normally goes for$3500 a night!!!!!!!!!!!!! Once we thoroughly inspected the room we headed out to the town of Banff for dinner. The Maple Leaf Grill was another regional cuisine restaurant that served up seafood and meats – we loved it
Friday was a workday for Marc. I headed into town for a bit of overpriced shopping. Banff is a lovely little ski town with a main street filled with shops specially designed for tourists. Souvenirs, crappy art, and fudge shops. We only brought home things for Alexis, didn’t even buy ourselves anything. It was cold and snowy but I really enjoyed walking up and down the streets and stopping in the stores. Marc had a lunch break so we went to a Greek place for some souvlaki. Then it was back to work for him and I went up to our room to relax and do some reading. Once he finished, we headed back into town for a bit before dinner. We had both read and heard about a restaurant called Bison and were told it was excellent, so we decided to go there for dinner. The rumors were right – it was very good. The place focused on locally and regionally grown organic foods and it was so fresh and delicious. Marc ate bison which is the specialty there and everywhere in the area – all the restaurants have it. He enjoyed it. I, however, had salmon – the wild sockeye variety – yum-o!! It had been snowy off and on all day and was freezing so we were thinking it would be more of the same the next day.
Saturday morning we woke up and opened the curtains to a winter wonderland. I guess it had been snowing all night b/c everything was white. It was beautiful. Everywhere we looked was covered in snow!! We were like kids in a candy store since it’s such a novelty for us. We got dressed, took some pics of the scenery from our balcony and then off we went. Our first stop was the hot springs. The name says it all – hot springs gurgle up from deep in the earth and they have made an attraction out of it. There is an outdoor pool which is about 97 degrees (F) and people go swimming!!! I took pictures as I stayed bundled in my coat and gloves – no way was i going to get in a bathing suit and go swimming in 30 degree weather!! I’m sure it would have been great, but when I went home with pneumonia, the novelty would have worn off. The water itself is warm, but the getting in and especially getting out would have been brutal!! And forget getting my hair wet – it would have frozen solid on my head. I digress – we did not go swimming Next we went to the gondola which takes you up to the summit of Sulphur Mountain, elev. 7,486ft. I do not like heights and I do not like enclosed spaces, so this little gondola ascending up the mountain high above the ground held only by a cable above was a perfect recipe for a panic attack. Marc really wanted to do this so I agreed, making him swear not to do anything stupid like rock back and forth or make stupid comments about us falling. So I concentrated on taking deep breaths and not thinking about what I was doing and I made the 8 minute ride up to the top. Now that I was there, I seriously considered hiking back down the mountain rather than do it again, but I figured that would be a bad idea. Once up there we went out on the observation platform and admired the view. Of course there wasn’t much of a view of Banff since it was snowing pretty heavily and the clouds were low, but it was beautiful. We went outside and walked along a trail that led to the Cosmic Ray center. I would have loved to see it – but there were about a million wooden steps leading up to it which were all snow covered, so we opted not to go up. We went back to the visitors center had a hot chocolate and headed back down in the gondola. Next we headed into town for lunch at a yummy burger bar which gives you a sheet of paper with lots of options for toppings, cheeses, sauces, buns, even meats. It was very good. We walked and shopped some more then went back to our room and relaxed. This was our last night of vacation (so we thought) and we decided to have a little more casual dinner since we had been going to fancy restaurants almost every night. We ate at a local Italian place – Giorgio’s which turned out to be really good and just what we wanted!! After dinner we went back to the hotel and packed.
Sunday morning we woke up had breakfast, said goodbye to our fabulous room and checked out. Our trip home was from Calgary to Dallas then to Miami. We left the hotel at 10am local time (12noon Miami time) and were scheduled to arrive home at 11pm( Miami time). We had a tight connection in Dallas – only 40 minutes to make our flight so we knew that if your flight was delayed at all, we would not make it. It was the last flight from Dallas to Miami for the night and the only flight out of Calgary that was an option for us on American. So as we got closer to Calgary – we were checking the flight and realized that our plane which was coming from Dallas had not left yet and was held up in Dallas b/c of weather – ruh-roh. By the time we got to the car rental place to return the car, we knew that we were going to miss our connection b/c we were now delayed an hour and a half. We got a call from American telling us that they had re-routed us on Continental through Houston, leaving in an hour!! A little more notice would have been good. We hustled inside the terminal to the Continental desk and they would not let us check in b/c by this point it was under an hour and for an international flight they don’t allow that. Crap. ok over to the American desk to see if there was anything they could do. Nope. No other flights anywhere else that would get us home. So we were stuck. Our only hope of getting home was that our flight from Dallas to Miami would also be delayed. Of course now we had plenty of time to kill at the airport since we were delayed. Once on the plane to Dallas we asked the flight attendant if there was any way of knowing once we got closer if our flight was delayed. She was very nice and said she would check for us and if it was that she would move us up to first class so we could run off the plane first. As we got close and our connection and gate were not announced we knew that we missed our flight 
Upon landing we found out the flight had been delayed and left at 7:50pm, we landed at 8pm – that’s right 10 minutes!!!!!!!!!! Luckily marc is a frequent American flyer and has platinum status so we went to the admirals club to have them help us. They were so so nice and gave us a hotel voucher for the airport hyatt and booked us on the first morning flight at 6am to Miami. We trudged up to the hotel without our luggage which had been checked through to Miami so we couldn’t get it. Lovely. So glad I put on clean underwear that morning. The hotel gave us some toiletries like toothbrushes and deodorant and we had dinner at TGIFridays in the terminal – how’s that for gourmet? We went to sleep and prepared for an early day. The alarm rang at 4:30am and the only bright spot about all of this was that we were able to get up get dressed, go though security easily with no bags and no people at that time of the morning and go right to our gate – no driving or checking baggage or anything. We made it home bleary eyed but glad to have arrived at 9:45.
We went through 4 time zones on our trip – pacific, central, mountain, back to central, then eastern. To say that our internal clocks were totally screwy is an understatement!! Overall it was a great trip and I’m glad we went!! Marc and I are self-admitted hotel snobs and stay in nice places, but the Fairmonts – all 3 of them that we stayed in, were by far the nicest hotels we had ever been in. Not just the buildings themselves, but the staff. They were all over the top nice. They went out of their way to make our stays perfect. They were always so nice and friendly. They definitely have a great corporate philosophy and hiring policy. It was not easy being away from Alexis for 10 days, especially for me since I am with her all the time, but it was also a nice break. Since she was with my mom mom I knew that she was in great hands and that she was happy and well taken care of.
Here is a link to my snapfish album with all our pics… Click here
18 months ago today…
UPDATE: After her 18 month pediatrician visit – she weighs 28lbs, 90th percentile and she measures 32.5in, 75th percentile. She is apparently right on track with her speech, despite my worrying. The dr said that she should be developing a lot of new words in the next couple months and beginning to put 2 words together and if she doesn’t do that in a couple months, then I should call. Otherwise, she is saying an appropriate number of words. Other than that, she is doing well – she can sort and stack, problem-solve, roll and throw a ball, jump, eat with a fork and spoon, and brush her teeth.
I was being induced at 38 weeks because of my high blood pressure. I was freaking out about the needles and the pain and the “what’ifs” The reality of my short 3.5 hour labor, the epidural which was waaaay worse in my imagination than in m reality, and yes even the 1.5 hours of pushing without said epidural were not as bad as what I had envisioned. And of course it’s all better as soon as I heard that frist little cry.
Fast forward 18 months. She is now a walking, (kinda) talking, little ball of energy! She has such a personality. Definitely has inherited both mommy’s and daddy’s stubbornness and strong willed natures. When she wants something, we know it. She tests her boundaries and is not a big fan of the word “no”. She loves eating and will eat anything that I give her. She is very active – loves running around, swimming, going to the park, and climbing on everything. She doesn’t talk a lot yet, she does have words though – in addition to ones I’ve blogged about in the past – there is duckie, fishie, twee (three), and her favorite – mas! More in Spanish. She says that when she wanrs more of anything – food, a book read again, more playing, etc it is her favorite word. She now also motions along with Itsy Bitsy Spider, and sings along to most music. She loves music – she has for a long time, dances along when there is music on tv, or in the car, or a restaurant, if it’s something she knows- like the theme song to Dora or the Backyardigans – she will “sing” along, not the words but she sings her own way!! Speaking of Dora, that’s another word – Dowa, she loves her and Diego. The other favorite is the Backyardigans – which also happen to be MY favorite. I go to the pediatrician on Monday so I will update then with her stats. Overall, she is a very good baby toddler. She is very sweet and loves to cuddle. She is also my little partner and we go shopping together and run errands together. She has inherited my shoe addiction. I’m sure the fact that I buy her every single cute shoe I see does not help – but she loves her shoes – she puts them on herself – not correcly of course, and she also puts on everyone else’s shoes that may happen to by lying around. She has learned how to use a fork, she does make a mess but she knows how to stab the food and then get it in her mouth. The spoon is a little trickier b/c the stuff slides off, but she does try to eat things like yogurt by herself.
2 pictures – then and now.
House update with pictures!!
Phase one is complete!! The house is painted – yay The new vanity in the guest bathroom is installed, the blinds are installed, the accordion shutters are up, and we have begun to put up the fans and light fixtures.
Below are pictures from today – I think the colors are much better in this round of photos, plus I took front and back exterior. We obviously still need to landscape and put up a fence. The green on the bedroom floors is still the padding, but the actual carpet will be an off-white color.
Back
Front
Living Room
Family Room
Guest Bedroom
Guest Bathroom
Dining Room
Alexis' Bedroom
My version of reality television
No, I don’t watch The Bachelor, or Bachelorette, So You Think You Can Dance, or Project Runway. I don’t like Reality TV (with the exception of American Idol).
I do, however, love the real reality shows and this week marks the best of them all – the highlight of my year – SHARK WEEK!!!!! I will be glued to the television watching the new shows and the old shows that I’ve seen a million times. I am fascinated by sharks. And terrified of them. I rarely go to the beach, and when I do, I will only go swimming if the water is crystal clear and I won’t go out too far. I prefer pools. When we were in Hawaii – I went in the ocean ONCE and that was snorkeling in a closed off bay, and even then I was scanning the waters around me for predators. So why do I watch with such rapt attention? I think they’re amazing creatures. I do not believe they are man-eaters, I think they only bite people when they are confused and think we are fish. We are going into their home and their environment and they are acting out of instinct. They are beautiful and they are the apex predators. So you know where I will be every night for the next week.
Aside from Shark Week, the other “reality shows” I love to watch are all similar. Deadliest Catch – a show about Alaska crab fisherman. Great show and the guys who go out there year after year are courageous and do something that I would never do. Shows you that you really do need to respect Mother Nature.
Next, Whale Wars. This is a new one, only in its second season. This chronicles a group whose mission it is to protect the whales in the Southern Ocean from illegal killing by Japanese. The Japanese claim to be doing it for “research” but I don’t think anyone actually believes that. If I was younger and single and didn’t have a baby – I would volunteer for this organization. I strongly believe in what they are doing.
A couple others I enjoy – Ice Road Truckers, not as good this season. Greesnburg – documents the town of Greensburg, Kansas which was wiped out by an EF-5 Tornado and it’s struggle to re-build itself green.
So, am I a dork? Probably. But I think I would do really well on Jeopardy!
Progress and pictures
I went to my house today to check on the progress being made by the professionals, and I was shocked at how much they had already done! The painting is coming along, with a lot of the rooms painted. There is still several days of work left, but I can now see the colors on the wall. I took pics, you can’t see all the colors very well, b/c some of them are light, but in person they all look great!
They removed the carpet in the bedroom, so the green on the floor is padding and floor covering, not at all a finished look!
Master Bedroom
This is one of the ones that is a bit light, but it’s a pal sage green
Master Bathroom
This is the sand color
Guest Room
This is the color that will be the main color throughout the house
Living Room
This is also light in the pic, but it’s a pale yellow “french vanilla” as my dad calls it
Alexis' Bedroom
Another light pic – the color is a light but bright green
Play room
Beginnings of a house
After 20 paint samples, we finally were able to choose the 6 colors we will use in our home. It is impossible to post them here from the websites b/c they don’t look anything like they are supposed to. So, I will have to just desribe them and post pics of them on my wall once they are there. Right now, our house looks like some sort of Jackson Pollock painting with different colored squares all over.
Master bedroom: Upward (sherwin williams) – it’s a light blue gray
Master Bath: Celery (sherwin williams) – pale green, I’m going for a spa-like feel here
Guest Bedroom: Bagel (sherwin williams) – sand color, this room with be a beachy theme we’re getting a white wood daybed with trundle
Alexis Bedroom: Milkyway galaxy (Behr) – soft yellow background on which my parents will be creating a garden room mural with colorful flowers
Playroom: Honeydew (sherwin williams) – light green
Rest of the house: Bone white (Glidden) – warm neutral beige-y color
So far, we have purchased a few things. First appliances. The house has perfectly good appliances right now, but they’re black, and we (ok, I) really want stainless steel, so we were able to get a great deal from BrandsMart on all new GE Profile stainless appliances. I’m going to try and sell the existing ones on Craigslist, except the fridge which we’ll move into the garage and keep as a second fridge.
Cooktop
Dishwasher
Microwave with vent goes over the cooktop
Double oven - top is convection
We also got the LG Steam washer and dryer – in red :
The only piece of furniture we have actually bought so far is a sectional for the family room from Rooms to Go.
We also bought 2 TVs – no pics of those, but they’re the Samsung LEDs, the ads for them have the hummingbird. They’re super thin. The one for the family room is 55″ and the one for our bedroom is 46″.
Stay tuned for more updates…
Finally! A house!
After what seemed like an eternity of headaches, we are finally, officially homeowners!!! I know in my last post, I lashed out at the assholes that made this whole process more difficult than it needed to be (I won’t even get into what happened at closing). However, there were 2 people who made things easier and definitely helped us!! First our agent friend Yaniv – I could not recommend him and his company enough!! he put in countless hours searching for the perfect home for us and driving us around. I know that my husband is not easy to please and is very demanding and a total perfectionist. So thanks, Yaniv for answering Marc’s countless inquiries about whether this was “a good deal”. See his website here. Next our attorney friend Chad, he always looked out for us and our interests. He worked on our contracts after hours at his firm and went above and beyond for us. We are very fortunate to have friends like these
Now, without further ado: the casa! This is all “before” we are currently working on the house and hope to move in by the second week of August. We are painting all the interiors, replacing carpet in the bedrooms, cleaning the tile, getting new stainless steel appliances in the kitchen, updating all the lighting and adding fans, updating the faucets in the bathrooms and the kitchen, getting a new vanity in the guest bathroom, installing accordion shutters, putting up a fence, and finally buy all new furniture since we sold our house furnished!
Here are a few pics, I don’t have a picture of the guest room, the exterior front or back, the family room, or any of the bathrooms. It has 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms so we definitely have room to grow in the house. The yard is big enough for a pool and we are hoping to put one in by next summer, also we want to get a nice swing set for Alexis.
Foyer
Living Room Left
Living Room right
Dining Room
Kitchen
Space for dinette
3 Front Bedrooms
Master Bedroom
Master Bedroom Bay Window
Letter to parties involved in house purchase
Dear mortgage lender,
From the beginning I was wary of using you since you were affiliated with the seller/listing agent, however we decided it was worth it and the rate was good. We had 6 weeks to get all our documents in order before the closing date listed on the contract. Why then TWO HOURS before the deadline do you inform us that you need something that is impossible to get so quickly? Then after we get you said information, why do you tell us documents will be sent the next morning if they are not. Why – now 3 days after our closing was supposed to happen and 5 days after the original deadline to have documents completed are they still not at the title company? Why have you told us repeatedly that they have been completed and sent when they CLEARLY HAVE NOT BEEN!!? Are you so incompetent that you cannot handle a simple transaction that is in your job description? And, be assured that we will not be responsible for any penalties that we incur as a result of closing after the date on our contract.
*Update* Also – please read through our paperwork before you send us an email stating we do not have flood insurance, because it is on page 2 of the documents from the insurance agent.
Dear title company,
Our closing date was supposed to be June 12th. I understand that you did not have all the necessary documents in your hands by your deadline and therefore we will have to delay closing. However, why do we need to chase you down with repeated phone calls that go unanswered and emails that are not answered or vague when they are. This is not a surprise, we have had plenty of notice so everything should be ready to go on your end as soon as the documents are delivered. I was wary also of using you because of the same affiliations as the lender.
Dear listing agent,
You, especially, have been a moron. From day one – I have not liked you and you should be happy that you are not dealing with me directly. It seems to me that you do not really want to sell this house because if you did then you would not be so confrontational and negative about everything. Your one line misspelled responses to questions are irritating. Your know-it-all attitude and advice to disregard our attorney’s advice is ridiculous. I have had it with you and cannot wait until we have closed and I no longer need to worry about being polite to you. I want an actual answer and guarantee that the 3 years of owed property taxes and HOA dues will be paid by the current owner (the bank) because I REFUSE to sign anything until I am assured that is no longer an issue.
Sincerely,
Leanna
15 month Update
For this checkup I went to a new pediatrician. I really loved my old one but she was just too far from my mom’s house. So we tried out a new one and I really loved her too
Overall a clean bill of health. Developmentally, Alexis is doing well. She passed all the little tests the Dr had her do – stack blocks, pick up a small item, follow simple commands. The only thing was her speech. Alexis has a handful of words that she says – mama, dada, leche, kitty, night night, baba (for my mom), etc. The dr said that was fine for now but that her speech should be expanding exponentially by her next check up at 18months. She wasn’t concerned about it but still I want to make sure that she’s doing everything she should be. I read to her pretty often, but I’m going to make a point of reading 2 books a day to her. Not like huge novels – little board books. Also I’ve been talking to her a lot more – really explaining everything I’m saying and seeing if I can get her to repeat. I am also taking away the pacifier when we’re home playing. There really is no reason for her to have it, other than habit. So she can have it when she sleeps and when we’re out. I’m not sure if speaking in 2 languages is confusing to her but I wouldn’t think so. She weighed 26lbs and was 32 inches long 75% for both, pretty consistent to where she’s been. She has some rough red patches on her skin the Dr said those are eczema and she gave me a cream to treat that and said it’s pretty common in babies. She also got 4 shots!! I still declined the Chicken Pox, I would like to wait until she’s 2 for that one, unless I go back to work and need to have her in a day care. She got DTaP, Hib, PCV, and HAV. She’s actually never gotten that many at once, I usually split them, but since it’s more difficult these days giving her shots I figured I would get it over with all at once. I’m not sure if that’s the reason why, but she had a moticeable reaction. She was really groggy all day and very whiny and needy. She did not want to put down, she wanted to be carried and wanted to cuddle. She also got a low fever in the evening. She woke up a lot at night and was very restless, like she was uncomfortable. She has a big red welt on one of her legs too. Sucks.
As for some of the fun stuff she’s being doing lately, there is a lot. She loves music. She “sings” along with her toys and the songs she knows. She gets the tune right which is pretty cool. She also dances all the time. As soon as she hears music, which included the Final Jeopardy theme she dances. She bobs her head, shakes her shoulders and hips. When she’s sitting, she will move her head back and forth and tap her hands on the table to the beat – it’s hilarious! She is also becoming quite a little monkey. She copies things now. The other day I had the Today show on and right before they go to commercial they scan the crowd who is all screaming, so then Alexis starts coping the screaming crowd. She also does this low grunting thing when she hears someone burp – mimicing them. She has also gotten pretty good with a fork and spoon. She can’t really get the food on them but she tries and manages to do it some times, but when I put food on them she knows how to eat with them. She is also getting better at coloring and makes marks on paper about half the time, when she’s not trying to eat the crayon!! She is definitely a little girl now, not a baby anymore! It’s amazing how that transformation happened in the last 3 months!!!
15ish months
