Where? What?

I’ve been MIA on the blog lately but things have gone crazy. Absolutely crazy. The house has closed and we are moving in two weeks. Yikes. This means our house is filled with half packed boxes. Why is it that when you are trying to pack, everything gets so messy? You would think that putting stuff into boxes would a) decrease the amount of stuff around your house and b) increase the amount of open space on shelves and in closets. This is so not true. Somehow, the chaos has only multiplied. Now, I have stuff strewn everywhere and piles of big bulky boxes sitting in every conceivable corner of the house.

This weekend we fled from the chaos of our house and headed north for Kevin’s Grandma’s 90th birthday. It was the first time most of the Van Dyks had seen Leina and they went crazy. It was like Julia Roberts walked into the room when we arrived. Everyone had a camera and wanted a picture with her. I swear if she could write they’d have asked for her autograph. Leina, in true Leo fashion, loved it. She was passed from Aunt to Uncle to cousin. The flash bulbs where going a mile a minute and Munchie calmly reigned in the center of all this attention. Smiling, doing her Rose Princess wave, and basically charming the pants off of every relative there. I got this great picture of Kevin, his brother Chris, and Leina which I will post. The family resemblence is frightening.

My little lion. She just loves to bask in being the center of attention. I’ve so going to have my hands full for the rest of my life.



10 months old…

Well, Leina turned 10 months old on Monday and to celebrate – as we always do – we took her Pooh Pic. I’m used to how big she is now but all the new mannerisms and the little personality she’s become is incredible. What a joy.

Click on the pic to see all the Pooh Pics to date:





More House Pictures

The new house inspection was highly successful. There were some minor issues for the home owners to take care of, the most major of which was a clogged drain in the guest bathroom. But even the inspector was impressed with the quality and workmanship of the place – I take that to be a good sign.

The owners have alredy let us know the clog was due to excessive hair in the drain (we can understand) and has been fixed.

Here are some more pictures of JT and Chrissie’s visit last week. Click on the room in the floor plan to see its pictures.


Floor Plans

Daw-ga

Leina loves Artie.

LOVES.

More than the boobies, more than momma and dada, more than her blanket or even the cats. Artie is her first true love.

Every time he wanders by she goes crazy. She’s like a cheer leader trying to catch the eye of the star football player. She bounces, she waves, she screams at the top of her lungs.

But lately, there has been something more. She is trying to say “dog”.

Not dog as in “hot dog” but “dawg” as in that slang term of “you go dawg” only she can’t say the “ga” part. Instead, she belts out (very loudly) “DAAAAW…DAWWW.” Even more hilarious, she pitches her voice very low, much lower than her normal baby babble. So she’ll be in her exersaucer playing away cooing “ba..ba..ba..” when suddenly she’ll hear the clatter of Artie’s unclipped toenails on the wooden floor. Her head will whip up, she’ll zip around to face the sound, and as soon as Artie’s snout comes around the corner of the sofa she’ll break into a very loud and low refrain of “DAAAAW, DAAAAAW, DAAAAW!” Artie, appreciative of this effort, will usual lick her face while he walks by which just makes her day. Even after he passes, she’ll sit for a while, practicing her one and only true word over and over and over.

“DAAAAW…..DAAAW….DAAAW”

All By Myself

My mom flew out last night, and Kevin headed to work as normal this morning leaving me all by myself with Leina. Yesterday, I had my post surgery consult, and my surgeon told me I had healed enough to go back to work. He even offered to write a letter to my boss explaining my absence. I declined the letter seeing that my current boss pretty much only understands the words “dog”, “boobie”, and “teeth” right now.

And so, this morning, Leina and I waved good-bye to dada through the front window. After this, we proceeded on to Cheerios per our normal routine. After snorking about twenty or so, Leina got a very serious look on her face. She was either trying to remember the Pythagorum Theorem or she was pooping a mighty poop. After about five minutes of grunting and brow furrowing, a horrific smell drifted from her nether region. I looked around for someone to pass her off to but the only other being in the kitchen was Artie and he gave me a look like….”there aren’t enough meat sticks in the world lady”… and promptly headed for the sofa.

And so I had to change Leina’s poopy diaper ALL BY MYSELF. Then, I had to dress her and put her into the stroller ALL BY MYSELF. We proceeded to Safeway where we bought lots of fruit for my little monkey. At the checkout counter, I had to pay for my purchase WITH MY OWN MONEY. We next headed to Starbucks where I picked up my morning espresso, but I had forgotten how hard it is to push and stroller and carry a coffee ALL BY MYSELF. When we arrived home, I had to PUT AWAY MY OWN GROCERIES and even worse, all the dishes from breakfast were still sitting on the table and so, as soon as I finish typing this entry, I’m going to have to go WASH MY OWN DISHES.

This is so outrageous! I’m still not clear who exactly decided to let my mom go home but boy do I have a bone to pick with them. Hello, people? Do you realize I’m going to have to go back to doing everything ALL BY MYSELF????

Does anyone know if you can elect to have your appendix removed even if it’s healthy? Or perhaps tonsils? How many non-essential organ can one lose if needed……

Developments, developments and more developments

As many of you know I started my new job at Novellus this month. The job has been wonderful, except for the commute. We’ve been planning on moving but just hadn’t gotten around to it yet. Well, after Chrissie’s harrowing experiences in digestive surgery she decided to go and find us a house. She will have to give you the details, but suffice it to say once she starts something she doesn’t stop until its done. So after a whirlwind tour of the southeast Portland area we bought a spacious 3+ bedroom place in the Wyndam Ridge development in SW Sherwood. Since a picture’s worth 1000 words I thought it best to put up as many as possible.

The place is incredible. Lots of room for our family (including pets), a huge backyard, a 2 car garage, and best of all it’s only 10 minutes from work!