Bright And Happy People

So Tom was in the Denver Post perspective section today. We didn’t even think anyone would notice, but someone at church actually saw it and asked him about it. The Denver Post had posted a status on Facebook where people could say why they still like America and they would pick the best ones to put in the Sunday paper for the 4th of July. Here is the link: http://www.denverpost.com/perspective/ci_15423929

Of course, they paraphrased it. Here is the whole quote from Facebook:

The USA is a nation founded on ideals that people shared in common and thought those ideals were important enough to risk their lives to found a nation that stood for those ideals and protected others who’s ideals were either the same or completely different. Through years or turmoil and difficulty this nation has risen to the top of some of the most difficult times any nation has ever faced. From conspiracy to flagrant misconduct this nation continues in its direction of protecting the basic inalienable rights that all humans have, either within these political boundaries or not.

There is no other nation in this world that has such a diverse culture, such a diverse political atmosphere, and yet at the end of the day we push through our problems united as a people for the ideals we hold true, the ideals that we are here to make our lives better and to welcome all who wish to be free into the fold.

There is no other nation in this world with a more dedicated military formed of volunteers, it is their choice to join the military and with valor and conviction they will stand up to meet any foe that threatens our sacred haven of diversity and views. If their time comes and they are called away to sacrifice their lives for their beloved nation, they do so without having to be asked.

To the United States Of America, the land of the free, the home of the brave, the haven of diversity, the nation of freedom for all and for all a nation of promise and opportunity!

Lily is starting to use pseudo-sentences. Her favorite is “I want (insert noun here).” It’s kind of nice when she can tell me what she wants without (much) whining. The whining and tantrums have really kicked up a notch in the last week or so. I’m constantly having to tell her to use her words, or say please. That usually calms her down. One time though, she got really mad at me because she said please and still didn’t get what she wanted. She screamed “Say plea!” I said I know you said please, but you still can’t have it. (I don’t even remember what she wanted anymore, I’m sure it was cookies or something.)

But, a couple of weeks ago, she said her longest sentence to date. “No daddy, bad, my potty!” Let me set this up for you: We bought a potty for Lily. She wouldn’t stop playing with it! It was this great new toy for her. She kept carrying it around and then sitting on it.  I showed her how it even sings when you “go” in it. (So she tried to take it over to the deep rock water cooler to fill it up. Oh no! Not gonna do that!) Of course she walked to the other side of the room when she had to do her business. We were like “why didn’t you go on the potty!” (Obviously she’s not quite ready yet.) Well she became obsessed with it, so Tom told her it had to go back in the bathroom, where it belonged. Then she screamed out “No Daddy, Bad, My potty!” And then promptly threw a tantrum.

She’s so darn cute! She didn’t stop talking about her potty for days.

So Tom just turned the big 3-0. So I got him a very cool present, at least he thought so! He went indoor skydiving! Check out the video on the link below. The first person is this kid who was also doing it, and then Tom takes his turn. And then the instructor shows off at the very end. He was amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBCq0pIGFZ4

Of course, Tom now wants to take up skydiving. Why can’t men have cheaper hobbies?!

ps. I know I’ve been really bad about posting. Has it really been since last November. What a slacker! I’ll get some pics of Lily up soon. I’ve definitely got some catching up to do. She’s growing soo fast and she’s just so darn cute.

Two days and two hours. That’s all I have to say!

We entered Lily in a Gap baby contest. Now she needs fans! You can vote for your favorite (Lily of course!) on www.gap.com/castingcall and search for all of her entries by our member name tomandlara. You can vote once per day on each of her 5 pictures until November 17. The winners will be announced December 7. So make sure you are voting every day!

Here’s a link directly to Lily’s page: http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/tomandlara/

Make sure your vote counts. I’ve noticed that sometimes when I select all the entries at once, only one of them is counted. So vote on each entry individually and then go back again to get the rest.

Lily had a great birthday! She loved every minute of it! Here are some pics:

So the other day, Tom came out of the bathroom looking like this:

As you can imagine, it did not last long. He did it for shock value at his work.

They laughed, I cried, he shaved it off the next day!

So I have a sick baby. It’s her very first ear infection.  She had a fever for a couple of days, a runny nose, watery eyes, decreased appetite, not sleeping well and she was a little bit fussier than normal. Everyone said it was just because she is teething. (Which may even be true, we think her top tooth is trying to come in.) But I still thought I should have the dr check it out. I’m really glad I did because I think we caught it early. As soon as I got her on medicine, her symptoms got worse (you should see her face covered in snot in the mornings). I’m glad I took her to see the dr.

But, just cuz she’s sick, doesn’t mean she’s going to slow down. She’s still curious and quick. And still pretty happy. Yesterday she was so cute. We have a doggy door insert for our back slider. We never permanently installed it so I just slide it in on warmer days when I’m home, so the dogs can go in and out as they please. Well, she crawled around to the door and discovered it yesterday. She figured it out VERY fast and it is just her size.

I guess I better keep an eye on her when we have that thing in there now.

So Tom’s dad and step mom, Gini were in town this weekend. It was actually the first time that I’ve ever met Gini. It was really nice to meet her. Of course, it takes having a baby to get them to come out to see us! Because they came to see Lily, not us! So for fun, we decided to take Lily to the Denver Aquarium. She really enjoyed the tropical area at the zoo, so I figured she’d really love the aquarium. I was soo right! I think I had more fun watching Lily’s reactions to things than seeing the fish and other aquatic life. Here’s some pics. Lily is so adorable!

“What is that?!”

“Look Mommy!”

“Whoa! Creepy eyes!”

 ”I love the aquarium!”

“Ooooh! Pretty!”

“Wait a minute? A tiger? I thought we were at the aquarium.”

 ”What a fun day!”

I know I already posted today, but I wanted to let everyone know that I have started a new blog. It’s called CrazyShoeLady.com. This blog will be for more random thoughts, comments, issues, book reviews, maybe even a little bit of advertising and product placement, and anything else I can think of. It’s still under “construction” (meaning “looks-wise”) but the meat is still there. I hope it will be interesting and that my family, friends, and friends-to-be will come back again and again.

This new blog has been on my mind for awhile. It was prompted by the fact that my company is closing the Denver office and all the service center staff (that means me) will either relocate to the home office in Lansing, MI (as if!) or have to find another job. I’m hoping to stay home with my precious Lily, so this blog will hopefully put us a step in that direction. Since Tom is so talented and knowledgeable when it comes to internet marketing schemes, I’m hoping this will workt out for us. (I gotta keep buying diapers you know!) So please read (and tell your friends). I plan to keep this blog running as well. More of the family updates and pictures will be on this site.

Hope to see you all at the Crazy ShoeLady! Maybe you’ll even be so inclined as to add a link to crazyshoelady.com on your own blogs. But don’t worry, I won’t be searching all my friends’ blogs to make sure they do it. It’s totally voluntary!