Faceoff!

Brian's mom sent us some pictures of Brian when he was but a wee newborn. :) So I thought it would be fun to post some pics of Brian and some pics of Caiden and see if you can tell who is who!! Leave your guesses in the comments. :)

Ready, set, GO!

Cupcakes!

Of course my weekend would not be complete without some quality baking time! I saw an episode of Martha Stewart's show a few weeks ago, and she was featuring cupcakes. But these weren't just any cupcakes, they had a little filling surprise! I thought it would be fun to make these cupcakes over the weekend with Cathy here. Having Karla here made it even better as she contributed her delicious butter cream frosting!! (Which I now have the recipe for - YUM!!)

I made yellow cupcakes from scratch, filled them with a squirt of homemade Mexican chocolate flavored pudding and topped them with chocolate butter cream frosting. Are your teeth rotting from just the thought of them yet? :D





They turned out pretty tasty and I love my new frosting technique - much better presentation factor!!!

Sisterly Love

I'd been looking forward to this past weekend for the last several weeks cuz my sister Cathy was coming out to meet Caiden! But it turned out to be even MORE fun than I had anticipated because I got two sisters for the price of one! :D Yep - my sister Karla surprised me AGAIN (she and Cathy surprised me with my baby shower in Dec) and came out on this trip with Cathy! I had NO IDEA she was coming!!



We really lucked out this weekend weather-wise as it was GORGEOUS all weekend if not a little on the hot side. It was in the 80s/90s all weekend! Friday we went into Seattle, visited my office and made the requisite trip to the market. Caiden somehow slept for the entire outing except when I woke him up to eat, but then he would just pass right back out. What a life!



On Saturday we went out to Kerry Park (the "Fraiser view" of Seattle) and then on to the Washington Arboretum for a picnic lunch and walk thru the grounds. I could not believe the size of some of the rhododendron bushes! It was like walking thru a forest of these things! A bunch of pics from the weekend are here.







Sunday we went for massages (yum!) and then hung out on the patio and visited with Rob and Anastasia. Monday came around all too quickly and Caiden and I were driving Auntie Karla and Auntie Cathy back to the airport. :( I had SO much fun with my sisters and was so sad to see them go. :( Come back anytime and visit!!!!!!!

The Upfronts

Yep - it's that time of year again - when the bozos at the networks decide which shows stay and which are sent to the guillotine. I just cannot understand how some of these crap shows manage to stay on the tube while other much better shows are canceled. Brian keeps telling me I need to go get a job at a network so I can keep my shows on the air. Heh - if only it was so easy!

Anywho, here is the fate of my shows:

Lost: duh - of course it's back! But not until Jan/Feb as per usual.
Samantha Who: Woo hoo!! Renewed for a sophomore season!
Eli Stone: Woo hoo!! Renewed for a sophomore season! (Seriously - you've got to watch this show. I love it!)
Ugly Betty: no brainer. :) This one is still on.
Aliens in America: Boo - canceled. This was a really funny show. I'm bummed to see it go.
Dollhouse: new Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy, Angel and Firefly) series slated to premiere midseason possibly on Mondays.
Back to You: Boo - idiots at Fox canceled this (surprise! whatever.).
Scrubs: surprise 8th season as the series moves over to ABC. Now NBC can't jerk it around anymore. Woo hoo!
The Riches: unknown - this is an FX series, but another AWESOME show that you need to watch.
Sunday night cartoons The Simpsons, King of the Hill and Family Guy: All coming back next season on Fox. (Plus a new spin off from Family Guy called The Cleveland Show. Starts in spring.)
Pushing Daisies: Woo hoo!! Renewed for a sophomore season!
The Terminator: I'm actually surprised to see this picked up - especially given that it is on Fox. I mean, I thought it was cool tho I did stop watching it part way thru. Maybe I'll start watching it again. (Heh - this puts Joss Whedon, David Boreanaz, Eliza Dushku, and Summer Glau all on Fox!)

So...looks like we're gonna pretty much be an ABC household next TV season. :D

As for new shows that the networks are picking up, I'll have to wait for the most awesome issue of EW which outlines all of the new fall shows (and those that are returning) to figure out if we want to add any new shows to our already extensive line-up.

Healthy Happy Boy!

Caiden had his 1 month check up today at the pediatrician's office. Well, more like 5 1/2 week check up, but close enough. :) Anywho - Dr. is thrilled with his progress and told us we're doing a great job! She was even impressed that we didn't look completely haggard and worn out. Amazing the difference having a good baby can make! :D

Updated stats:
Height: increased 2 inches to an even 2ft.
Weight: gained 3lbs to put him at 12lbs 5oz and is perfectly on track.
Received the 2nd shot in the Hep B series. (Poor kid - I hated seeing him cry for that.)

Another "first" - Dad feeding son:



Yes, we also introduced him to the bottle (filled with breastmilk) this past weekend, and he took to it really well! This is a very very good thing as it means I can leave the house for longer periods of time without worrying about rushing back to feed him. Perhaps Brian and I can manage a date night sometime soon? Any volunteer babysitters? :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy mom's day to all my mommy family and friends! This year is my very first year celebrating Mother's day as a mom. :) It has been a fabulous day so far! Brian brought me breakfast in bed (mmm - strawberry waffles!) and I spent a very lazy morning napping on and off (when I wasn't busy feeding Caiden). Tonight I am looking forward to a delicious home-cooked meal followed by a luxurious bubble bath. I can't wait! :D





In other news, life has been fairly quiet on the home front. Caiden and I have been keeping each other entertained during the week. On Wednesday we went to our first class together. Evergreen hospital offers free parent/baby classes for the first 3 months of baby's life. These classes are primarily an opportunity for moms and babies to get together, have some focused discussion for a little while and then open up the class to talk about anything that's on our minds. This week's topic was all about being a new mom on Mother's day and thinking about what kinds of traditions we'd like to establish. We also all shared our stories on how we found out about our pregnancies and how we shared the news with family and friends. It was nice to get out and hear how other new moms are doing with their wee ones.

On Friday, my friend Carrie was in town and stopped by to meet Caiden. :) It was so good to see her, and I'm so excited that she finally got to meet him!! Here's to hoping that we'll be seeing a lot more of her soon! Then on Saturday we did a little shopping at REI (I needed to get a new raincoat to replace my dying pink polka dotted coat) and spent the evening at the Ptaks' place playing Rock Band. This game is SO MUCH FUN! Almost makes me want to get an Xbox. Almost, but not quite. :) I stuck to alternating between drums and vocals while the boys rocked out on guitar.





I'm really looking forward to the end of this week because my sister Cathy is coming to town!! She gets to meet Caiden for the first time and absolutely cannot wait!! :D I just need to figure out a way to "quarantine" her room from the cats. Any ideas?

My other project for this week involves getting started on more photo albums. I've often lamented that since having a digital camera I no longer have physical copies of photos. I used to sort and organize all of my pictures into photo albums and really loved flipping thru them from time to time and showing them to friends and family. It's now been 3 1/2 years that we've had a digital camera which as you can probably imagine equates to TONS of photos. I realized that printing off all of these photos and purchasing albums to put them in would cost us a small fortune in time AND money. So, as an alternative solution, I decided that I will put together one album for each of the last few years and select photos from events of each month - enough to fill up a complete album. This way I'll have something physical to look at, but I won't have to break the bank to do it! I'm looking forward to getting started on this project! :D

That's about it from those of us here in WA. Hope all is well with you!