Day 94: Feb 27 - To Grandmother's house we go...

Katie and I were up at the crack of dawn to get on the road to Grammy's. Unbeknownst to Daddy, we scheduled a pit stop in High Point to get her picture taken by an amazing photographer. We primped and prepared for this photo shoot. Too bad Katie decided to fuss and cry the entire 1.5 hrs we were there! How the photographer managed to get these two great shots, I'll never know! I was inspired to get her pictures done in the white cotton dress, since my Mom said that's what she did for all of us when we were girls. See Exhibit A below as proof.

http://laurabrettphotography.com/blog/2009/02/child-photography/little-miss-greensboro-photographer-laura-brett/

We made sure to take it slow and schedule in enough stops along the way, including stopping at Max and Erma's for lunch and some yummy warm chocolate chip cookies. When we finally arrived at Grammy's, we were warmly greeted by Aunt Laura and Cousin Ellie. They were both very excited to see Katie Bug again, and all three of them couldn't believe how much she had grown since they last saw her. Grammy said she didn't even recognize Katie anymore! Well, how could you underneath all of those layers of chub? ;-)

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Day 95: Feb 28 - Toby time!

Ellie spent the night at Grammy’s last night too, because, well, her house was being taken over by icky boys! ;-) Ethan had some friends over for the weekend, so Ellie sought sanctuary where there was more estrogen.

We met up with the rowdy boys in the afternoon for a fun-filled afternoon at the bowling ally/arcade. Katie didn’t want to show them all of her mad skillz at bowling and make them feel inadequate, so she just snuggled on the sidelines with mom.

In the evening, Katie got the treat of a lifetime. She got to meet Toby for the first time! They both seemed to hit if off quite well and enjoyed each other’s company. Toby did a marvelous job of making sure that Katie’s fingers and toes were sufficiently clean. Surprisingly, he kept away from her chubby cheeks, for the most part, and just concentrated on the hands and toes! Between Toby's cleaning abilities and Ellie's joy at changing diapers, I may have to see if I can "borrow" them for a few years!

Day 93: Feb 26 - Take your daughter to work day

I had a second interview today, so Katie got to spend the day "working" with Daddy. You can't see it, but under her bib, she chose to wear her "I love Daddy" shirt for the occassion.

Imagine my surprise when shortly after I got home from my interview, I got a call from the recruiter saying they wanted to offer me the job! They waited a whopping 45 minutes to call her after I left! I'm flattered, and kinda freaked out! They wanted me to start this Monday, but we already had plans to go visit Grammy for the week to celebrate her birthday, so I pushed them back a week. Since we had planned on driving over tomorrow, I spent the remaining two business hours today madly scrambling to find a daycare center for Katie. YIKES!!!

Day 92: Feb 25 - Take this job and shove it!

Katie and I went over to the office today so that I could drop off my laptop and phone and say my final goodbyes to my coworkers. It was kinda bittersweet.

In the evening, Katie and Daddy just chilled in her room watching TV. I love how she's laying on his lap in that picture.

Day 91: Feb 24 - My little shopper

After witnessing Katie smackin' on her hands again, I figured it was probably time to head to the store and get some more groceries for my starving girl. ;-) She was such a good little helper too. She held onto the shopping list AND the coupons!

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Day 90: Feb 23 - An angel with a milk belly!

It's so adorable that Katie's milk comas have been replaced by milk smiles. She used to just zonk out after a feeding, but now she's so happy she just smiles away, usually with bits of milk dripping off her chin.

She spent the afternoon in her crib mesmerized by the bubbles and lights of her aquarium crib toy. I couldn't help but notice her big 'ol milk gut hangin' out there. Soooo adorable!

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Day 89: Feb 22 - She's definitely our child!!!

It appears we're grooming another TV addict. She was completely mesmerized by it while she was snuggling with Daddy. Even when he faced her away from the TV, she turned around so that she could see it.

Later on she channeled her "Inner Special Agent Jethro Leroy Gibbs" from the TV show NCIS and parted her hair in the middle. We couldn't let the fun end there, so we tried on some hats on her while she sat in her Bumbo chair for the first time. Oh yes, we do like to use our child as amusement sometimes. Is that so wrong? ;-)

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Day 88: Feb 21 - The lastest in little girl fashion

The neighbors were once again very generous and brought over more clothes. We wasted no time checking the items out and discovering our newest favorite item...pink oriental pattern fur-lined boots! I also got a kick out of one of the tags that said, "Keep away from fire". Umm, yeah, I kinda already had the goal of keeping my child away from open flames, but thanks for reminding me.

In the afternoon, Daddy and Katie enjoy kicking around on her Ocean Wonders playmat. Is he the best Daddy ever or what?!?!
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Day 87: Feb 20 - A second date

Katie and I met up with her boyfriend Jack and his mom Ashley for another mall walking expedition. She did fairly well through the walk, but at the end, she became STARVING, so we camped out in some lounge chairs and had a snack. From there, we stopped by Circuit City to check out their Going out of Business sales. We debated and debated a portable hard drive, but ultimately decided against it. The sale just wasn't good enough yet. Katie started to get fussy there too, but it appears plopping her in front of a TV has a very calming effect.

Day 86: Feb 19 - Mom's got a "meeting"

Katie and I were quite tired from all of our entertaining this week and had planned on snuggling and napping, but I got a call yesterday afternoon with some awesome news that a position I was interested in had opened up again after a hiring freeze and they wanted to interview me today. I scurried to get my resume updated and printed and figure out if any of my interview suits still fit. It was the first time in a long time that I ventured to put on makeup AND do my hair.

The interview went really well, and it got me excited to go back to work, but then I started thinking about what Katie was going to do while I was at work, and it didn't include snuggling with me. Hmmm, this had better be an amazing job to entice me to leave my sweet baby for over 40 hours a week.

At the end of the day, I realized I hadn't taken her daily picture yet, and not wanting to disturb her, this is as good as I could get. ;-)

Ironically, today was also my first day back from maternity leave, and I was told that tomorrow will be my last day with the company. Not cool that they couldn't help me find a non-travel position, but I'm sure everything will work out in the end.

Day 85: Feb 18 - Weeeeeelcome to Moe's

We couldn't send Miss Julie back home without introducing her to the yummy world of Moe's Southwest Grill. Of course we were able to get her addicted to their delectible queso dip. Mission accomplished.

Katie was such a good hostess that she waited until Miss Julie was on her plane back to Boston before blowing out her diaper. Straight into the tub she went!

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Day 84: Feb 17 - Checkin' out Durham

Katie is just sooooo adorable in the mornings. She'll lay there and coo and kick around and smile so much. It almost makes you forget that you have to get up through the night to feed her and that every night at bedtime is "Katie Fussy Time".

Once we got all cleaned up and ready to go, we drove up to Durham. Our first stop was grabbing some pizza at Mellow Mushroom, my favorite pizza shop. We then walked around the Tobacco District looking at the water features and water tower. Across the street, we checked out the Durham Bulls stadium.

From there, it was off to a beautiful stroll through Duke Gardens. While it's still a little early for too much to be in bloom, it was still gorgeous there. Since we were in the area, our final stop was at Duke Chapel. It's amazing how much squeals of delight can echo in a large cathedral. Katie was great at testing it out though.

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