It's A GIRL!!!!

So we just found out yesterday that Alexander is going to have a baby sister! So exciting!!! It was funny because before my OB even got to the part where she could tell, Leonard says, "Yep, looks like a girl to me..." She ended up telling him it was a lucky guess. In the car later he told me, "It really did look like a girl..." :D


INTRODUCING LIA GRACE:

4 Years!!!!

Today marks the 4th anniversary of our first date. The 19th of each month was always celebrated (as the "monthiversary") until we got married...when Leonard decided that there was only room for 1 anniversary. Well, this year I was successful in making him realize why this day was so important to me.

November 19th always holds a special place in my heart because it symbolizes the first day of the rest of my life. Leonard was giving me a hard time but I explained to him how if we didn't go on that date, I don't know where I would be. I was divorced and had just gotten out of a bad rebound relationship 6-months prior...and was making some really odd decisions in my life...particularly with my finances. I also remember not being really happy with myself physically and just had an overwhelming sense of unfulfillment...

Leonard and I had become really good friends over the year (2003-2004) and I had confided in him about my insecurities. He started helping me get back into shape in the gym and we found ourselves spending a lot of time together. In the midst of all that, we were experiencing some serious "tension" and were bickering all the time at work and after. Finally I confronted him about it and told him that I had been denying my feelings for him. He quickly asked me out on a date...and the rest is history.

So glad we went out on that day. My life changed that day (actually that weekend...we ended up spending together.) I had a new perspective on life and love. Leonard helped me to realize what love really was supposed to be... And how you can truly fall in love with your best friend. I tell everyone that being friends with someone first (especially as close as we were at the time) is the best way to start a romantic relationship. There's truly nothing like it.

"Never Would Have Made It"

So, inspired by my good friend's (art dog's life) blog post, "Yes We Can," I decided to go hunting for something I heard on the radio the day after the election... While driving back home from dropping Alexander off at the sitter's, I heard a song on the radio that actually nearly brought me to tears. It was a collection of excerpts from Obama speeches dubbed over Marvin Sapp's "Never Would Have Made It." Listening to the combination of the lyrics of the song and his speeches was the moment that I was genuinely moved to tears by this whole thing. I guess it was just so overwhelming before that it really hadn't "hit" me... Well, that morning, I was hit.

Unfortunately, I can't find the exact song... (I think it was something that the radio startion may have put together themselves, of which I plan on inquiring about.) Instead I found Obama (and Obama related) images linked with the song. Enjoy:

"I VOTED TODAY..."

...well actually yesterday. I stood in line at Vets Memorial for 4 hours. I knew I really wouldn't have an hour (or longer) to wait on Tuesday. So, I thought it best to wait when I didn't have anything else to do. It was worth it. Although my back, empty stomach, bladder, and feet would beg to differ. I was really stupid for waiting so long to go. My mother and brother went about a little over a week ago and were basically in and out. It was a serious lesson learned.

Well, the polls opened at 1pm. I got there at 12:15pm along with about 50 other people...which was after a couple of hundred people. Because the facility had yet to open, we initially stood outside, and at the time were pretty close to the "end of the line", which only spanned the length of the building (we were standing against the wall.) At about 12:40 they opened the doors...only for us to walk into a gymnasium sized room with tables and chairs (serving as ropes) to which we were to weave in and out. There were concession stands of pizza, hot dogs, popcorn, pretzels and lemonade in two locations inside this room. We were in there for about an hour and a half. Next, it was off to a hallway and up some stairs, where there was another winding line with ropes...and at the end, the voting booths! About a 2.5 hour wait all together.

By the time we got up the stairs, the line outside had grown...and wrapped around into the parking lot. All of those poor unsuspecting people... Had no idea of the BIG room with tables...and then the true line just before voting. A bunch of us took pics with our phones. Here was my best shot:



Here is a story from The Columbus Dispatch describing what the wait was like yesterday:

"LONG LINES GREET EARLY VOTERS"

About 2 hours into the line I had to go to the bathroom... I actually held it to the end. I hadn't eaten anything since 8am. But, hunger didn't bother me to the point of sickness... And my back was KILLING me. I saw about 2 or 3 other pregnant women...a lot further along than I and I could not believe they were standing that long. To distract me from the pain, I talked with other people in line and listened to my MP3 player...and by 3:45pm I was walking into the room to cast my absentee ballot. One of my line-mates said he felt like Rocky at the top of the steps...and then began chanting the theme. As I walked in to get my ballot, I briefly forgot about having to use the bathroom, how bad my back hurt, and that I was starving. Oh and what a great sense of accomplishment when I sealed that envelope! I thought I would get a sticker that said, "I VOTED TODAY." But instead I got this sticker:



Believe it or not, I feel like I did make a difference.

Halloween and the first "bang cut"

Halloween already?! Alexander was being a ornery all day, so he was appropriately dressed for the day with a "Mommy's little Monster" outfit. (Notice his bangs in his eyes in the picture above.)

We decided to dress Alexander in his Halloween costume from last year. The, "Oatmeal Bear," was packaged as an outfit for 0-6 month olds... Yeah, right. This thing was HUGE...surely big enough for a 9-12 month old! There was NO WAY poor 1.5 month old Alexander was going to fit in that thing. So...off into the closet it went. (Halloween has never been a really big deal to me, so I didn't care about getting him another one.) Just as I suspected, it was big enough for him to wear this year. (I'm sure the fact that my baby is tiny helped considerably.)




We didn't think it was necessary to go "Trick or Treating"...so instead we packed Alexander into his stroller and in the midst of all the masquerading neighborhood kids, took a walk over to Leonard's parents house. (They only live a couple of blocks away.) He was too cute...and got a few looks on the way.



The next day, we took Alexander to get his first hair cut...well, more so a "bang cut." We don't have the heart to cut into his beautiful curls...and the main goal was to get his bangs out of eyes. It was totally becoming a nuisance, to say the least. So here he is sitting on his Daddy's lap just after the careful snip of his bangs had occurred:



They gave us the curls in a little bag as a keepsake:



And here is Alexander at a birthday party eating cake later that same day. It's amazing how much better his face looks with his bangs out of his eyes!