Labor Day 2007

How do you like our matching mother/daughter camo outfits?!! There's Ellie in her Brady Goat Cookoff onesie and me in my 1992 Dove Hunt tee shirt. Ellie had her official first road trip over Labor Day weekend. We took a trip to Lee's parents' ranch in west Texas for the annual dove hunt. It's normally a 3 hour drive, but the construction and all of the traffic made it more like 4 hours. Ellie was really great on the way there except for the last 30 minutes or so, but it was way past her bedtime when we got there on Friday night and she was hungry. Lee's parents were there along with Ben and his friend, Price.

Other than the fact that I had Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" stuck in my head for three days straight and I have chigger bites in unmentionable places, we had a really fun Labor Day weekend. We spent most of the time relaxing, watching football, and Lee even got a few dove. Sooooo glad it's college football time again. Ellie was cheering for her second favorite team, the Vols, but they lost to Cal. She even sported a bright orange onesie for the occasion. Lee will be excited when Ellie can finally say things like this. I found one more thing that makes Ellie laugh - the dogs. She loves to watch them play with each other and she even thinks it's funny when they bark. She had a really good time watching them retrieve tennis balls from the water.

We got back on Monday afternoon, and I immediately started working to get things together for Ellie's first day of daycare. I have to have double everything now - diapers, wipes, outfits, bottles . Everything. From the time I woke on Tuesday morning to the time I made it to work, it was 2.5 hours. Wednesday was a little better - even with massive rainstorms causing traffic lights to be out, I still got up, got ready, dropped off Ellie and was here within two hours. I'm trying to figure out ways to trim that even more. Her first day was pretty good. I took her in the class and sat her in a swing next to a little boy. He started kicking and grunting when he saw her. Already turning heads at 3.5 months. That's my girl. I didn't cry when I left her, but I felt guilty. She probably spent all day wondering where her mom was.

I've gone back at lunchtime all week to feed her, but when she saw me on Tuesday and Wednesday, she didn't want to eat - she just wanted to look at me. Today was better. When she got home on Tuesday night, she was a nightmare because she'd only slept 1.5 hours all day. I'm hoping that will get better as she gets more used to it. Maybe this will help her go to bed earlier - who knows.

I had one of my more embarrassing moments at work on Wednesday. I have to pump in the computer closet and they keep it about 60 degrees because of all of the equipment. The door is locked from the outside and I always put a sign on the door so nobody comes in. So I'm sitting there working on the laptop and I hear the key slide into the door and it opens. There stands our IT guy. "HI", I say with a glare and my best "you'd better get the hell out of here" voice. "Um, hi - I need to switch out the tape for the server". Hey knucklehead - can you see I'm a little busy??!! I was wearing a big jacket to keep warm so he couldn't see anything but still. Now I'm getting pissed because he's had the door open 10 seconds longer than he should have in the first place. "Do you see the 'Do not disturb' sign on the door?!!". "Uh, yeah.". "THEN GET OUT!!!". "I have to change the tape". Seriously, don't make me unteather myself and come out there to beat you. Because I will. "Jerry, CLOSE THE DOOR." Good God. Now I can't look at him. I told one of my co-workers and she was like "Ohmygod - were you topless?!!" No. "Well, were you naked?!?!" Yes, I was buck naked in our computer closet. NO! Whatthehell. Do my co-workers think I'm naked in there? Reason #541 to self medicate with wine - IT guy seeing me pump in the closet.

A big congrats to Jenny who got engaged this weekend. We're so happy for you! Also very happy for cousin Kyle who got engaged two weeks ago and Lee's friend, Terrance, who proposed this past weekend too. Looks like we'll have plenty of weddings to attend this spring. And the most exciting news of all... Nicole is expecting her second bambino in February. I can't wait!