Swelling With Pride and Hope

Barack Obama was perfect tonight! Just perfect.

Let's Talk Politics

I've been a little disappointed with the Democratic National Convention up until this point. It's seemed very tepid and lacking in bite. I think Michelle Obama was alright, but tame. Perhaps they're trying to polish her "First Lady" image and tone down the strong woman aspects of her personality. I will say that I think Hillary did a great job last night and I appreciated her speech. Calling for the suspension of the roll call and nomication of Obama by acclamation was great, too. What do you think she'll get in the Obama administration? Attorney General? Secretary of State?

I was thrilled that New Hampshire's delegation unanimously cast their votes for Obama. Last week, on The Exchange, some delegates who were initially Hillary supporters said they felt obligated to cast their first vote for her. I'm glad they listened to her message last night and presented a united front.

Joe Biden did very well tonight and I am so excited that he's the VP nominee.

I hope Obama comes out guns blazing tomorrow night and really fires the party up. Everyone needs a massive jolt of caffeine or something.

I'll be very interested to see McCain's VP pick...I'm thinking Kay Bailey Hutchison's stock is rising...but, overall, I think his options suck.

Highlights Of Grand Isle

• The view, the view, the view!
• Being witness to an amazing partnership filled with love, devotion and joy.
• Liam and Ella taking their first showers AND sleeping in real beds (and Ella only fell out of bed once on the first night!).
• Candy jar centerpieces at the cookout on Saturday night (brilliant idea!).
• Late night dancing to "La Vie Boheme" with several family members. Very touching and loads of fun.
• Tucking Ella into bed on Sunday night and telling her that I loved her. She reached up to me, gently stroked my right cheek and told me, in the sweetest whisper, that she loved me too.
• The ice cream cart (in place of wedding cake - another great idea!).
• Visiting with family and celebrating with Nurse and I. By far, the best wedding I've ever been to and most likely will ever attend.
  

Beautiful & True

What an amazing weekend filled with beauty and love!

We had such a great time celebrating with Nurse and I. So much joy and happiness and love.

More later, as I'm recuperating from three nights of very little sleep.

Getting There

The kids are almost all packed, the gifts are wrapped and the items on my to-do list are slowly being crossed off.

I'm planning to hit the gym as soon as they open in the morning (which, until last weekend, was 6 am, but is now 7...grrrr) and then come back and pack the rest of our stuff up. I'm a bit of an expert packer when it comes to J's and my stuff, so I'm not worried about that. I have to wait for the kids to wake up to pack the rest of their stuff since they're sleeping with it all right now. I just need to do up a bag of food, mostly for the kids but also with some goodies for J and me.

I'm a little bummed because KL's husband took S to New Jersey to visit his parents, so the Muffins won't get to play with her. S turned 3 in mid-July, so she'll have our birthday gifts to come home to, at least. I'm thinking I may plan a daytrip sometime in September while KL is still on maternity leave, so that Liam and Ella can play with S and I can get another visit in with KL (tomorrow's won't be nearly long enough).

Oh! I got a total steal on my dress and shoes! I hit the clearance rack at JC Penney the other day in a last ditch effort to find something and walked out of there with a super cute dress for just under $13! Same thing happened yesterday when I tried to find a pair of flats. I loathe my feet, but managed to have some luck at a local shoe store and found a basic pair of cute black shoes also under $13.

It looks as though the weather's going to hold. I think it'll be a beautiful weekend.

Weekend Plans and Two Asides

It's been over a year since we've traveled overnight with the Muffins and oh how much has changed since then. Not the least of which is Liam's latest trick of pushing his bed away from the wall, scaling the tallest part of the back (a good 4 1/2 feet) and then jumping into his bed.

We leave Saturday morning for Grand Isle, Vermont to celebrate Nurse and I's civil union and it's a weekend-long event. We're fortunate to be spending the weekend where the ceremony will be held, and Nurse and I made sure to book a suite for us, with two bedrooms and a private bath. I am infinitely grateful for that. I am, however, concerned about the sleeping situation for the kidlets.

I'm planning to bring the pack 'n plays, but think it may be an exercise in futility. Apparently, the room for the kids has two daybeds, and since their cribs have now been converted into daybeds (albeit, daybeds about 4 inches off of the floor), I think the allure of the different beds may be too strong. I already know that naps will be completely out of the picture both weekend days so I'm hoping that exhaustion wins out in the end. The amount of items I need to pack is almost mind boggling, though, as Liam will require no less than 5 snuggly toys and 3 blankets to sleep with.

That said, though, I'm really looking forward to this trip. On the way up, we're going to visit with KL and see the new baby and I'm excited to get in some baby nuzzling. The festivities kickoff Saturday evening with a cookout for all of the guests and then hanging out with the happy couple. Sunday promises to be a fun day all around, and I'm doing a reading at the ceremony. For their gift, I did up a copy of the poem, along with images from their invitations and had it framed. It looks great and I hope they like it.

We've been having an amazing stretch of great weather - quite possibly the best August ever! - and it looks as though it's going to hold for the weekend.

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Gwen Stefani, really? Zuma Nesta Rock? I get the homage to Bob Marley, but it's quite unique.

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So excited to see who Obama's veep pick is! I have a hunch it's Joe Biden, but we'll see...

3 1/2 Days...

...of sun! We've been living it up out on the deck and even squeezed in dinner out there tonight after a brief shower this afternoon. God, I love my house now.

So sucked into the Olympics. Thank God tonight's the last night of swimming. I might be able to get some sleep in the coming week. I don't find track and field events all that exciting, but I'll most likely be singing another tune this time next week. Of course, there are still the individual events in gymnastics. These late nights are killing me!

Here's hoping tomorrow's another deck-worthy day!

I Think

...perhaps this is more me.

For now.

What Do You Think?

Too pink?

Just Wondering...

Why do some grown women insist on referring to their period as "Aunt Flo?"

So very seventh grade.

Still Alive

Life's been crazy...and that's pretty much an understatement.

The house is done and it looks amazing! J needs to do some finishing touches to some small paint jobs and I'll post before and after pictures.

Liam and Ella are amazing escape artists. Those extra tall baby gates? Pretty much useless. Liam scales them in no time flat and then opens whichever gate he's escaped over to let Ella out and they run all over the place and, therefore, get into everything. I'm learning not to stress about it all, but they're wreaking havoc for sure. We now have locks on the fridge, the stove and a new garbage can that also locks. I gave life to monkeys, I tell you.

After a very, very rocky start, I believe that the kids are back into a pattern of napping. We still have some issues with bed moving (yep, Liam moves their beds across the room) and robot touching (he likes to play with the air conditioner), but they go down relatively easily most days. Bedtime isn't a problem anymore, since the installation of a light switch cover which has the kids convinced that their bedroom light is broken (except for that one morning where Mom got the kids and turned the light on and Ella exclaimed that "Nana, how you do that? The light is broken! You fixed it, Nana!").

Good God, these furballs are the Muffins' latest obsession. I like Max, but Ruby bugs the hell out of me.

I honestly didn't think I'd be into the Olympics this year, but we've been sucked in every night. Staying up way too late.

In my most recent meeting with the trainer, I was down 22 lbs. and 13 inches since I started working with her in May. Since then, I've lost another 6 pounds and am down 43 lbs. total since joining the gym in January. Not too bad, eh? I'm rapidly entering a place where I haven't been in a long, long time and it's not as scary as I thought it would be. More on that at another time.

Life is going to continue being nuts for a bit. The weekend of the 23rd, we're heading up to Vermont for Nurse and I's civil union celebration and the weekend after that we're having J's family in to celebrate his mother's 60th birthday. I have a lot to say, though, and have plans to post more often. I know, I know...I've said it before, but I mean it this time.

Here. Gratuitous kids pics.


Would you like some flower soup?


Why wear one hat when you can wear two?

Playing the piano at Nana's is a favorite activity.