Update from Autumn Elizabeth

Mommy went to a hat party for one of Grandma's friends who is having chemo. This is me, modeling the hat that I gave. It's very shiny.

Daddy was gone most of the day working on someone's driveway. I missed him. Mommy is okay, but she doesn't play as much. All she seemed to want to do today was bake bread and wash dishes. She also tried to read to me, but I wasn't interested in books today.

I go to the doctor tomorrow. Daddy says I'm going to get more shots. I don't like shots. They hurt. But at least after tomorrow Mommy and Daddy will be able to answer questions about how big I am. They never seem to know.

Mommy keeps taking me outside and trying to show me flowers in the yard. But I don't really get what all the excitement is about. I just think it is too bright and I try to keep my eyes shut. It's better when she takes me out in my stroller, because then the sun doesn't get in my eyes as much.

I'm going to go to bed now. Goodnight.

For Beth

The first of the daffodils.

You know who you are...

...even if I don't.

We just received a package from the dc area. An anonymous package. A package with lots of gift cards in it.

It really made our day. :-) It's awesome to know there are people out there who care that much.

It is very, very, very much appreciated! Thank you so much!!!

Shoes

While I was taking pictures of Autumn, she interupted and untied her shoes.

Autumn's Giraffe

This giraffe has been one of Autumn's favorite toys since she was only a couple weeks old.

taste

Autumn's not actually eating any solid foods yet, but occasionally I'll let her taste something. I've been trying to avoid the sweet foods...but the ones that she has decided she likes are kinda weird. She didn't like sweet potatoes, but mashed potatoes were okay...as long as she just licked them and didn't get them in her mouth. If they got in her mouth she spit them out and made nasty faces.

I can be a mean mom--I decided to see how Autumn would react to dill pickles, assuming she would be in shock and make funny faces...

She tasted it...made a funny face...and then grabbed my hand and stuck the pickle back in her mouth. And she wouldn't let me take it away after that. She sat there and slurped on it until we had to leave the restaurant. She had the same reaction to green olives.

So she likes formula and pickled vegetables...hmmm....

I'm very bored. I really wish we had some friends down here. So far, we haven't even been able to find a place to meet people. Church on Sunday mornings really doesn't present many opportunities besides the "oh, what a cute baby" or "good morning, nice to see you here" comment time right after the service, before people rush off to find lunch. Don't get me wrong, the people at Trinity are very friendly--that's what attracted us to the church--but it's really hard to get to know someone when you only have about 5 minutes to talk.

We joined a Sunday evening class, but it seems that everyone else who attends is 20-60 years older than us--and it's mostly women who's husbands aren't interested in attending. I don't have any problem with having older friends, but everyone here seems to be so established in where they are, etc.

Then there's also the problem that we are pretty much fish out of water as far as our interests go. I think we're just such inside-the-beltway types that it's hard to relate to people this much in the real world. I don't think we're really snobs, it's just that most of the things that we pay attention to or want to talk about would bore most people our age in this area to death.

So I'm seriously doubting if we'll ever be able to find any friends down here. And somehow talking on the phone, and sending emails, and reading the blogs of all of our PHC friends just isn't the same as being able to go out and have a good conversation over coffee or having them over for a special meal.

It's just very lonely.

Big Smile

This is Autumn's usual "people" smile. It's hard to catch it on camera, though, because she always realizes that the camera is out and plays shy and only gives me little grins instead. This is the one that everyone who looks at her or talks to her in person gets all the time now.

Baby Pushups

This is Autumn doing her morning pushups under her gym. She usually likes to get up, eat and listen to a book, play with her toys on the floor for an hour or so, and then take her morning nap. Somewhere over the last couple of weeks, she discovered that she can flip over and do push ups and wrestle with her toys instead of just being on her back and kicking at the gym. As you can tell, she's pretty happy with the new situation.

Matt's gone at a Christian Coalition event all day and Autumn's napping so...
Some pictures from last weekend. It was so much fun to have everyone here!

1) Schwartz waiting for a chance to shoot one of Bill's black powder rifles.
2) Autumn as the center of attention.
3) Mark and Matt playing checkers.
4) All the guys (and Autumn) enjoying Starbucks at the CNN building.
5) Schwartz and Autumn playing with one of her favorite giraffes.

Exercises

Autumn thinks her toes are completely fascinating. She pulls them up to her chin, but can't quite get them into her mouth where she wants them. :-)

MLK weekend

Mark, Joel, and Matt Schwartz came down for MLK weekend. It was so much fun to have friends here. :-) But when they left it made me realize again just how lonely it is. We've got to figure out some way to visit the DC area, so we can see everyone again.

We planted some trees, Mark built us a shelf for pictures, the guys visited the local attractions (such as they are), we went shooting (first time ever for me), visited Atlanta, and just sat around and talked. I also really enjoyed the chance to cook for more than two for a change. (And Matt got more experience making margaritas. :-))

Autumn really enjoyed all the attention she got. She discovered a new trick --rolling over and over and over-- and practised it all weekend. She also really enjoyed going to Atlanta--all the new sights and sounds. She even managed to make it through the whole CNN tour without a pacifier!

With Autumn beginning to get more mobile, I'm realizing we really need to buckle down and get some work done on this house. We've gotten some things done just in the last week or so--I guess the effects of all the pain killers finally wore off, because I've started sleeping again and having energy to work on things. But we've really got to get to work. We need to paint most of the rooms still and then pull up carpets. The thought of Autumn crawling all over the stuff that's been here for the last 50+ years is pretty disgusting. (Speaking of which--why on earth do people carpet their kitchens and bathrooms? I've never understood why anyone would do that--yuck!) The problem is that at the same time that I want to get home improvement stuff done, I'm not sure how much time we should invest on getting everything the way we want it to be, since we have no idea how long we'll be here. I guess as long as we don't know, we might as well bite the bullet and get to work regardless.

I had better go make some lunch and get a few things done while Autumn is sleeping (to her favorite music--Johnny Cash).

Spoons

New Hairdo

Everytime Autumn gets a bath her hair gets all puffy and tries to stand on end. (Though in these pictures it had a little bit of help--but only a little bit. :-D)

These aren't the greatest photos, but I like the way that her personality comes through in them.

Autumn's New Favorite

Autumn seems to have fallen in love...
with the baby on the Pamper's baby wipes box. Whenever we go to change her diapers, she twists around so that she can stare at the baby on the box. Then she starts talking to it, just babbling on and on and grinning all the while.

Some old pics from DC

I was digging through some old folders and came across some pictures I took while on a lunch break when I was interning at DOL. There's a park over on the Senate side where I used to take a lunch to eat. I would always try to get this bench. It was absolutely gorgeous in the spring when the trees were covered with blossoms and the ground carpeted with petals.

The Perkins building (DOL) has to be one of the ugliest buildings in Washington. The best part of every day was running deliveries to the Hill. I never got tired of the scenery on the walk over. (The busloads of tourists crowding the sidewalks and crawling over everything were another story altogether.)

Always loved this old tree near the Capitol.

A Walk

Since the temps have been in the 70s, we took Autumn for a walk yesterday evening. She loved being able to get outside without being covered in a blanket. She just kicked and smiled the whole time (while I was discovering just how weak I still am--pretty sad when a few blocks completely exhausts you). Thankfully Matt was there to push the stroller up the hills. :-) Autumn especially liked "off-roading" in the rough areas of the neighborhood park.

It's supposed to be in the high 70s on Thursday, but then get cooler and rainy over the weekend. Too bad the guys aren't coming a little earlier to visit. :-/ Then again, I imagine it's still going to be warmer here than in Northern VA. I think we'll try to get out again for a while today--it's gorgeous!

Autumn and Papa Don on New Years Day

Autumn and Molly

Retirement Pic

Autumn with Aunt Jennifer at the retirement dinner

Catching up

I've been bothering my friends for not posting lately, but I realized it's been a while for me too. Things have been pretty busy with New Year's, and cleaning up Christmas things, and retirement stuff for Matt's dad.

For New Year's we had family over and did a big fondue night. Cheese fondue with dippers; court boullion with marinated steak, chicken, pork, and shrimp; and chocolate fondue with lots of fresh fruit and other goodies. Also did a bunch of mixed drinks. I spent pretty much the whole evening in the kitchen cooking and then manning the blender for frozen drinks, but it was really fun! (Matt was awesome and managed to keep up with washing all the dishes. :-)) The only thing that would have made it better would have been to have some of our friends here...but since the majority of them are still in the DC area, it was not to be.

But speaking of having friends over... some of the guys are going to be visiting for MLK weekend. Should be a lot of fun. Just need to figure out something to do while they're here. Hmmm....

Then on New Year's Day we went to Matt's grandparents for most of the day.

We've been slowly trying to "undeck the halls" for the last couple of days. It always seems to go up so much easier than it comes down. I guess a lot of it just has to do with the fact that it's a lot more depressing when you're boxing everything back up and taking down the tree. There is one nice thing--we had such a wide tree this year that it's a little exciting to have the other half of the living room back again. :-)

Last night we attended the dinner reception for Matt's dad's retirement from the Air Force. And then today there was the official ceremony at the museum. It was a really nice ceremony. Autumn was so good for both events. She never made a peep. There was one woman who came up afterwards and said something along the lines of: you really shouldn't have any more kids, because you know the rest won't be so easy. If only she knew! Autumn is awesome now, but it was an awful pregnancy.

Anyway, I suppose I should get going--Autumn's wanting to eat.