Daylight Savings wears me out

Man, just when we get back to our regularly scheduled events in our household...it comes. Daylight Savings Time!!! So, what's the policy here? Do we still put Lily down at the "regular" times? Or will her bedtime be 8 now since it was 7 before? I've read that babies' schedules are based on circadian rhythms because obviously they don't understand clock time, so that makes me think I stick to the physical time and ignore the clock. Or is that making it harder? What are you doing to cope with DST?

Also, I have so loved hearing about all of your trips! I think I might add a section here for travel blog links. I love living vicariously through everyone else's photos, and like I said, the planning is half the fun for me. We still have no clue what we'll do, when we'll do it, and if we can even swing it financially, but we have so many great ideas now. AND, I have the most fantastic link for you. If you're having a bad day for any reason at all: dealing with treatments, struggling with decisions, dealing with stinky people at work, fighting with your husband, sister, friends, whatever, well, then take a visit HERE. Click through some photos of people's trips to Tahiti, my dream vacation and run away spot. How gorgeous!! I just love those over water bungalows...and maybe someday when we're financially caught up and we don't owe anyone anything and we aren't saving for a child or paying off an adoption and when hell freezes over:), we'll put money aside and GO :)

I can't believe I've forgotten to blog about this until now, but Miss Lil is saying WORDS. Only like three, but it's the best! She says, "HI!!" in a very excited voice whenever she sees someone come in the room. Literally, I'll step out for two seconds, but that two seconds is long enough to warrant another HI when I come back. :) And she says something like "dee dee" whenever she sees our cat. We take that to mean "kitty" in our house. :) And as of this morning, the ducks says, "gak gak" and the lion says, "grrrrrr." The lion sound is more of a grunt, but we'll take it! It's so cute; she has always been a really verbal baby, and it's funny to see her really try to mimic what we say. It never fails to blow me away how much they learn and how quickly! She's a little sponge! I told my husband SOME of us need to watch what they say around the house a bit more carefully:) Not me, of course! :)

Calling All Travelers!!

(This is my 150th post - that's exciting! :)

So, our 5th wedding anniversary is this Oct. I know that is months and months away, but for me, part of the fun of travel is the planning. I love to go on trip advisor's website and read hotel reviews and check out travelers' photos. Here's where I'm stumped: Where in the world should we go? We honeymooned and have vacationed in Mexico and absolutely LOVED it and aren't necessarily opposed to going back. But, I'm not sure we can swing the cost. If we could find a great deal -maybe. Do you have a favorite vacation spot you can recommend? Somewhere relaxing where we can celebrate 5 years of wedded bliss :) I'm seriously open to ANYTHING: cities, beaches, international locales - anything. We can't spend a ridiculous amount of money or believe me, we'd be in Tahiti!!

So, suggest away!!! And if you have a blog with travel photos or a snapfish account or something with travel photos that you'd let me peek at, you'd be my best friend for life. :)

Back Home Again...

Our trip to Arizona was absolutely beautiful! I love it out west. The mountains and the canyons and the desert- they're breath taking, really. HOWEVER...I don't know how those of you who fly often with babies do it. I really don't. Lily is the best baby, but she turned into a little devil girl on the plane! She cried for about an hour straight, and I literally wanted to die. A lovely grandmother we had gotten chatty with in the terminal even came up and asked if she could try to calm her down. AND I handed Lily over. To a stranger. That's how bad it was! I figured she couldn't go far with her. :)

Anyway, that being said, it was nice to get away and have a change of scenery. But, I'm totally behind now in getting ready for Christmas. We made a little gingerbread house tonight - one of my favorite things to do! :) But, the presents aren't all wrapped - heck, the presents aren't all bought. So, I've got to get on that!

I'm really looking forward to catching up with blogs - it's been almost two weeks! Hope all is well and that your holiday preparations are going better than mine are. Anyone else a procrastinator? :)
I'll leave you with a few of my favorite AZ pictures...and then with my new favorite of Lily in her winter hat. She's too much! :)

Phoenix, Here we come!

The sickness has finally left our house. Man, last week was rough! Lily was so miserable and by the third day of her cold, I had come down with it, too. We've finally turned a corner, though, and are all feeling healthy. I had to laugh at my husband...well, laugh a little and then smack him a little. She would get up at least twice during the night because she couldn't breathe. And in the morning he'd say, "Did she get up at all last night?" or "Wow, she slept through the night last night?" Yeah. It's that male selective hearing thing. I will give him credit, though. Once I got sick, he got up with her during the night and in the morning. Which, again, leads me to ask why he could hear her when I was sick, but couldn't when I wasn't. :)

The best news! My mom called last week. My step-dad is a professional golfer and is playing in a tournament in AZ this week. She is flying all three of us out there for a little pre-Christmas mini-vacation. I can't tell you how excited I am. I am so ready for a vacation! I love being at home with Lily more than anything, but sometimes the walls of this house make me crazy! :) And you can only walk the mall so many times. I can't wait to be in the sunshine! It's supposed to be in the high 60s out there, which will feel nearly tropical after the weather we've been having. We're going to stay in Scottsdale mostly and then spend one night up at the Grand Canyon. I've never been there before but always wanted to - I really can't wait!
Anybody been out that way and have some tips or recommendations? Also - and this is the part I am dreading! - any tips for flying with an 8 month old? I'm hoping she'll nap some of the time, but that might be wishful thinking. Also, for all you world travelers, how do you deal with the time difference, especially when it'll only be for a few days? Do we go ahead and keep her on the schedule here? Then she'll go to bed at like 5:30 out there :)
Any tips or words of wisdom are much appreciated!

Also, most importantly, I want to send out a special congrats to my good blog pal, Jess. Her little family is growing by leaps and bounds! She and her husband and baby Ava welcomed Ethan into their family last Thursday. She will have her hands full, but I know there's nothing she'd rather be busy with! :) Congrats, Jess!!

Early Morning Ramblings

My little stinker decided that 5:00 am was the exact right time to practice her talking. She loves to babble away to herself in her crib, and I usually cherish the sounds...usually. :) I tried to go back to sleep now that she's snoozing away again, but I keep thinking about things to do, so now I'm up watching Morning Joe on MSNBC and blogging so as to avoid all the things I "have" to do today. (They're doing coverage of the Princess Diana memorial...and may I say that those princes are sure nice looking young men.) :)


I also wanted to vent for a sec about the issue I wrote about a few days ago that we're dealing with concerning my husband's little brother. He had a birthday party on Sunday, and we were really nervous about taking Lily over there after what happened with him taunting her about being adopted and blah, blah, blah. Well, there was none of that this time, but he was SO rough with her. He kept grabbing her arms, and I'd tell him to stop three or more times before he would. We finally just kept her away from him. As we were leaving, she was in her carseat and was admittedly being a touch grouchy ( I would be, too, after being manhandled by an obnoxious kid), and he knelt down and SCREAMED into her face. it freaked her out so bad and took us a few minutes to get her calmed down. I thought my husband was going to put him through a window. It's so upsetting because he is family, but it's to the point where I don't want her anywhere near him. My husband talked to his dad about it, but the entire thing was totally dismissed as "too much sugar." I'm really not so sure. It's a touch too much psycho for me. What do you do when parents won't discipline their kid and it impacts your kid?

In happy "couple" news, Lily spent the night last weekend with her grandparents and gave us a night totally to ourselves. I had nearly forgotten what it was like to dress up and be just me for awhile. It reminded me how important it is to get away for awhile and not to be "mommy" all the time. It's tough for me not to be on Lily-patrol 24/7, but I'm realizing more and more that I need it, my husband needs it, and Lily needs it! I want her to be comfortable with other people, and I want some of my life back. I think we're going to plan a small weekend getaway this fall for our anniversary. I'm really looking forward to it. Any location recommendations?