Sophie's Room

Before Sophie was born Norm gave me the go ahead to decorate her room. This is what I came up with for a wall hanging. Toby and I found some adorable fabric to make a quilt for her and we stole the pattern of the panda bear to make a hall hanging. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Introducing...

...Sophie Sue! Born this morning at 5:59 AM. She weighed in at a whopping 5 pounds 11 ounces and is 22 inches long. She has LOTS of thick dark hair and pretty eyes. In my unbiased Auntie opinion, she's beautiful!

Welcome to the World, Miss Sophie. I have a feeling we'll be very good friends.

Congrats to Norm and Becca!

Indiana, Day 4

Woke up, barely -- it was very hard today -- snoozed the alarm more than once.

Realized that Kenji graduates exactly 16 years after me.

Sent Kenji a text to wish him a Happy Graduation Day!

Made it to the library too early.

Perused the used books and CDs and ended up buying the soundtrack to "My Best Friend's Wedding" for $1.50.

Helped the missionaries fix a couple problems on their laptops -- for which they were so grateful they offered to buy me dinner.

Ate lunch.

Answered several questions throughout the day.

Went out to dinner with the missionaries at Logan's Roadhouse. Pretty good food, the baby back ribs were delicious.

Drank a root beer.

Headed back to the hotel.

Packed my suitcase while listening to Kenny Chesney.

Wrote out a few baby shower invitiations.

Went to bed.

Indiana, Day 3

Woke up – it was harder today.

Hit the snooze button once.

Performed my ablutions.

Skipped breakfast in order to squeeze in a trip to Wal-mart to grab some kind of gadget for wrangling network cords – they were all over the place yesterday! (Ever notice things are better when you know where a Wal-mart is? Why is that?)

Snagged some food items as well as a belt and a tank top – today I’ve decided my pants are too big and could kick myself for not going for the size 10 over the 12s…do they make an 11 in women’s sizes – add to that the fact my pink polo shirt is still not my favorite shirt (why is it I can never remember that it doesn’t flatter me at all?) thus the tank top and the belt, a valiant attempt to make myself look and feel better, if only I could be sure it worked.

Headed to the Library, got turned around on the many one-way streets surrounding the library.

Spent the day wrangling cords with wire-ties, more computer stuff, and sundry other housekeeping items.

Had a yummy sandwich for lunch brought to me by the Matthews – with a spicy sweet pickle and an apple.

After work, ventured once again to the Cracker Barrel for dinner, after attempting to cook a microwave dinner with hot water – very unsuccessful.

Tonight’s dinner consisted of broccoli cheese chicken, green beans and baby carrots, not my best dinner.

Discovered that if you’re a party of one you get served much faster than if you’re a party of more.

Ended up buying a green Indiana t-shirt and a cow flashlight keychain to get change for parking tomorrow.

Hope to spend the evening reading Percy Jackson and going to bed early.

Indiana, Day 2

Must have fallen asleep at some point. I think it came right after I realized I’m only comfortable laying flat on my back, blanket tucked under the chin and shoulders, much like a mummy.

Woke up bright and early (literally -- its two hours ahead here, so waking up at 6:00 is like waking up at 4:00) with a sore tailbone (yuck!)

Managed to complete my morning ablutions – I even managed to squeeze in a little Percy Jackson.

Ate breakfast at the hotel cafe and made my way to the Library by 9:00.

Met the missionaries – very nice people — Sisters Greene and Wilkins and Brother and Sister Matthews.

Spent most of the day fielding questions, defragmenting computers and sundry other administrative tasks.

Ate a very strange sandwich for lunch.

Ventured back to the hotel at day’s end.

Discovered Toby had been in an accident on the way to working – “I ruined my car” she says to me when I catch her on the phone. Elphie reduced to carnage – but Toby’s okay, torn rhomboid muscle (and a broken heart – I’ve been there, losing the car you love mostest – thus the heartache when I saw the red VW yesterday).

It could have been much worse, I’m glad it wasn’t.

That’ll teach me to go out of town on a workday! Ventured to the Cracker Barrel once again, this time in the rain to make it a little more interesting.

Once again successfully completed the triangle peg puzzle while waiting for dinner.

Ordered the “Eggs in a Blanket” – which here means, two fried eggs in the middle of two slices of sourdough toast with a side of fried apples and some bacon (at this point I began wondering how much is too much bacon to consume in a 24 hour time period?) Did I mention it was very tasty?

Back to the hotel.

Wrote a few work emails.

Scheduled a baby shower for Becca.

Watched the season finale of Glee (loved it! – yes I’m a “gleek”).

After that, went to bed.

Indiana, Day 1

Flight out delayed one half hour.

Ate scrambled eggs and bacon at the Wolfgang Puck express place in the Airport.

Waited.

Boarded the plane.

Seated between 2 good sized men.

Decided that when I invent an airplane it will have ample seat space.

Read quite a bit of The Lightening Thief”.

Did a more than a few framework puzzles from my puzzle book.

Arrived unscathed in Cincinnati.

Wandered the shops, ate a slice of greasy pizza and boarded the next plane.

Spent 25 minutes in the air before landing safely in Fort Wayne.

Collected my Chevy Cobalt rental car and drooled with envy over the candy apple red VW Beetle sitting in the stall next to it (ah, my heart!)…what would I have to do to get to have that for my rental car?

Successfully located my hotel using my MapQuest direction – which is a feat in and of its self.

Checked into the hotel.

Found my room.

Settled in – yes folks, I even put my clothes in the drawers – somewhat uncharacteristic of me.

Ventured to the Cracker Barrel next door where I had my favorite dish – grilled pork chop with applesauce and mashed potatoes (yum!).

Successfully completed the triangle peg puzzle while waiting for dinner.

Got sucked into the vortex that is the Cracker Barrel store and ended up buying a Wynona CD (all because the sound system was playing “My Strongest Weakness” which is one of my favorite country songs (thanks Marges!) not to mention it helps support wounded soldiers.

Back to the hotel, talked to Toby on the phone, then Mom who had to make sure I’d arrived safely – we chatted while Mikayla fell asleep on the floor.

Then I set my alarm, brushed my teeth, washed my face and crawled into the unexpectedly hard bed.

Found it hard to fall asleep, not only was I in a strange place but I was missing my furry leg warmer Gus.

Just as I was falling asleep, got a text from Andyra wondering if I’d made it safe.