Oh Hai.

Wow.

So this is the night I start blogging again, apparently.  Just opened up Blogger and started writing.

So much has happened, so many many good, happy things.  Some big, some little.  And some not-so-happy things too.  But they have all been necessary, balancing things.  Specific, I know.  But it is hard to know where to start, what to say.  Every day - literally EVERY DAY - I think of something to write about.  I think of something to say - to someone out there, or to no one in particular - something that I don't want to forget, something Eliza said, something we did as a family, some random bit of parental fodder, a frustration, a question... And yet somehow I haven't.  Four months have gone by since we moved and I have left this space empty and neglected.  Someone asked me if I had abandoned my blog, and I thought that sounded so sad (poor, poor little abandoned blog!), but I guess that's what happened.

Geesh, somehow this feels so weird.  Guess I need to stretch my writing legs.  But I thought to just jump into a list of "what we've been up to", as if no time passed, would be forced.  Part of the reason I stopped writing was because I felt so immersed in and enchanted by our new neighborhood, a new way of living our daily lives, I didn't think I would miss writing.  But oh.  How I've missed it.

I've also missed the conversation and connection with you all.  Looking forward to getting back into it. I hope I find a routine and a new way of incorporating this space into my life again.  I want to for so many reasons... not the least of which is this girl right here:

Oh hai.  I've been here the whole time, talking like a second grader, eating raw pasta, cracking jokes, generally being cute, and also sometimes so frustrating that my mommy has to drink wine at night with her friends.
But! I'm finally sleeping through the night so she forgives me.

Uninspired

I have been neglecting this space lately and I'm not sure why.  I guess I could say that I've been busy, and that my time on the computer has been spent on school work (which is totally true), but honestly I just haven't been making it a priority lately.  I don't like feeling guilty that I haven't been blogging, but that's what always happens.  I constantly tell myself throughout the day "oh I should blog about that" - when Eliza does something new and/or "bloggable", or when I think about some topic that interests me and want the opinion from my fellow bloggy friends... and then I *don't* blog, and then I forget what it was I was going to write about, and then I feel guilty for not having written it down when I thought of it in the first place... and that was a run-on sentence.  Which is very much how I feel like my life has been lately - one big run-on sentence that isn't very organized or coherent!

So, yeah, that's all to say that I will be back.  :)

Weekend, Extended

We had a fabulous weekend at the cabin this weekend.  Good friends of ours came up on Saturday with their little guy (who is 3 months younger than Eliza) and we had a really fun day.  On Sunday, my mom came up.  Eliza and I stayed the night last night while hubby went home so he could work this morning, so the 'ladies' got a little cabin time, which was soooo much fun!  I haven't uploaded any photos yet, so I'll wait to do a better post until I can include pics of our weekend.

Right now, I want you all to go over to Missy's blog to congratulate her - she and her husband have a match!  They have been waiting to adopt for a while and their prayers have been answered today with the wonderful news that a birthmother has chosen them!!!  I have known Missy for three years and I have watched her go through so many struggles and heartache on her journey to motherhood - she was there for me during the hard times I went through, and then she celebrated with me when Eliza was born - even when  I know it was hard for her (and she sent me the cutest hat and booties that she crocheted when E was born).  I am overjoyed to finally be able to celebrate with her as it is now her turn to become a mommy; her baby girl is due the end of October!  Congratulations Missy!

Header Love

So, wow!  Some of you, like, actually want me to make you blog headers... who knew?  Now, mind you, I don't know any fancy tricks - the above example is pretty much the extent of my knowledge on this whole header making business.  Photo + text = header!

But, yeah!  Why not?  I'll give it a go.  Just for you, my lovely readers.

Email me at: empberry gmail com with a couple of photos you'd like me to use AND your blog's header width.  In blogger, this info can be found in your dashboard under design > edit header (I think, I told you I'm new at this!).  The width should be given in pixels and is commonly in the range of 800-1000 pixels.

And I promise, if I make you one and you hate it, you don't have to use it.  Or, alternatively, you could just tell me and I will change it, I'm cool like that.

(Thanks for all the compliments on the new header, btw!)

Part II

The second and final installment of my guest blogging experience about Baby Led Weaning over at Jess's blog is up today.

Go check it out!

Guest Blogging

I am a guest blogger over on Jess's blog this week as part of her "Tuesdays Unwrapped" series.  Today's post is part one of two about our experience with Baby Led Weaning.

Thanks for having me, Jess, it was a lot of fun!

Go check it out!

WTH BLOGGER?

So is it just me or did anyone else's blog get a little wonky after blogger was down yesterday and today?  Comments from a couple of my recent posts are missing (which is so sad to me - I love comments!!!) and now my post from Wednesday is at the top of the page and is incorrectly dated.  Weird.

Anywho, I finally got through all my old posts and labeled most of them.  I added a label "cloud" on the right column so you can click on a label and see all relevant posts.  I am also going to work on updating my  sidebar photos and info.  I'm finished with my semester (WOOHOOOO!!!), so I finally have a little extra time on my hands.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.  I'm working on Eliza's 18 month post, though it probably won't be up by tomorrow.  I'm kind of behind on photos and remembering all the wonderful things she's been up to lately.  Oh, the mommy guilt.

She is A YEAR AND A HALF tomorrow!  How in the world did that happen?

(At Jamba Juice)

Ads & Blogs

So you may have noticed that I monetized my blog.  There are now ads between each post and one long "skyscraper" ad on the sidebar.  At first I felt like I sold out somehow... and THEN.  Then I woke up and realized that I am stupid for having waited so long to do it.  I should have done it when I started blogging.  I mean, why not, right?  I'd suggest all you bloggers out there do this if you haven't already.  It's really easy to do if you are a Blogger user - they use Google AdSense - and I think you can still sign up for the service even if you aren't a Blogger user.  You don't earn a ton of money, of course, but at least it's something.  The more hits/clicks you get, the more money you earn (duh, I guess that's obvious as that's how ads work!).  The rules are that I can't legally ask my readers to click on the ads, and I'm not supposed to click on them (so I don't, I'm honest like that).  Just thought I would bring it up since SOMEBODY (or Nobody) commented about it recently ;)  Heh.

I also wanted to take a moment to point out a few blogs.  First, one of my BFFs, Ashley, has started blogging!  Well, actually, she started blogging a while ago, so I'm a little late to the party, but you know that I sat and read through her entire history, oh yes I did! :)  She's a newlywed and she and her husband live in San Francisco - they are who we visited when we went there in March.  She is witty, smart and a great writer.  I'm so glad she started a blog so I can keep up with her day-to-day life - I miss her so much!  Go check out her blog, The Official and Authoritative Blog of Jeffery and Ashley.

Also, Dawn, over at Can You Imagine? has started dipping her toes back in the blogosphere after a hiatus.  I was so glad to see that she posted something recently saying she's coming back.  She welcomed a daughter just after I did and I can't wait to hear all about the little cutie and how mommyhood has been.  Welcome back, Dawn!

Lastly, Alyssa has been blogging over at Apple Pie and the Universe for a while now about her adorable son Evan and life in general.  But I just have to point out her post from today, which is about a very important subject that is near and dear to my heart... both literally and figuratively... BRA FITTING!  Heheh, yup, it's true.  It's a serious issue ladies, and she has an excellent PSA about the importance of a well-fitting bra.  I highly recommend you go check it out.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

My family and I have so much to be thankful for this year.  I could not be happier or more fulfilled than I feel today, and that is not only because of the blessings that I have in my life, but also because of the happy news that the past week has brought for several of my good friends:

I have 'known' Adrienne for almost 3 years and even though we've never met in person, I most certainly count her as one of my friends and, in many ways, know more about her and feel closer to her than some people I have actually met IRL.  The internet is an amazing thing!  :)  She struggled for a long time on her road to motherhood, and we were both in the trenches together for a while.  It made my heart swell when she made the big announcement that her baby boy, James David, was born last Friday morning.  I am so incredibly happy for her, and James is adorable, so head over to her blog to see pics and congratulate her!

And then, go over and congratulate Alison, who had a positive beta yesterday after her first IVF cycle!  WOOHOO!!!  So happy for her!!!  (AND, so amazed that she successfully resisted the urge to POAS before her beta.  WOW.  I sooo could not have held out!  But I'm kind of a POAS addict, as we all remember... :)

Congratulations to Adrienne and Alison, and to my other friends out there who have celebrated happy news recently.  I feel honored and THANKFUL to be able to share in your joy with you!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Feeling the Love

Thanks to all of you who have commented on my posts lately, I've really felt the love!  Getting comments is such a great part of blogging.  They're like little virtual hugs.

I don't know exactly what I'll do yet in terms of blogging... start another or keep this one and expand it.  But I'm touched to hear that you lovely people out there are interested in reading about my girl.  Warms my heart!

Thursday went fine, by the way.  It was hard to be away from my babe for that long, but of course I knew it would be.  Pumping at school was no problem (though it was slightly weird that my officemate didn't leave while I pumped!  Oh well, she's a female and seemed cool with it - so I guess to that I should say: way to be!).  I managed to focus during class, and was, quite honestly, better able to act like an adult and string coherent, somewhat intelligent sentences together than I thought I would.  Although, every so often I did get flashes of feeling like a huge phony:  What am I doing here?  I'm a mom, not an academic!  They can all see it, I'm a big faker - I should be at a playdate or nursing or singing goofy songs, not talking about research methods!

But, it passed.

And then I got home and saw my girl's huge smile; that was the best feeling in the world.  My little stinker had a good day, too, even though she REFUSED to nap or take a bottle (!!!).  Yeah, apparently she just wanted to playplayplay and gogogo all day long with Grandma and Grandpa.  No time to drink milk or sleep.  But she was tired by the end of the day, because as soon as she nursed when I got home, she conked right out.

One week down, 14 weeks to go until winter break!

Great Post

Pioneer woman wrote a great post yesterday with some advice about blogging (here).  She is so right.  I especially love the first one - be yourself.  That is so important to a blog.  PW does a great job being herself on her blog.  She's imperfect and she loves to tell her readers about her imperfections in ways that aren't overly self-deprecating, but simply honest -- and always humorous.  She also advises blogging regularly.  That's been hard for me to do lately, but I'm going to keep trying because I really think it's important.  Keeps those fingers moving and the brain engaged.

The one that stuck out for me was #3: Be Varied.  Hm.  That's a tough one for me and this here blog.  I usually stick to Eliza-only content because this is meant to be a (somewhat loose, sometimes sloppy, often kinda-boring) record of her young life... but I've been thinking about that lately and I might end up going rogue and starting another blog somewhere else... I mean, really, the only people who are truly interested in all-Eliza-all-the-time info are either related to me or my husband.  And I'm okay with that.  For this blog... but maybe I need another blog to stretch and grow a bit.  Anyway, this idea is still forming and I'm not quite ready to do it yet, but when I do... you'll know.  Well, maybe you'll know.  Okay fine, I'll tell you (maybe).

Heheh.

Now go forth and blog!