almost Halloween!

Is anyone still here?? I'm going to make an effort to update this blog more frequently, so be patient with me - I'll be better!

Let's see... here are a few things we have been up to! (Although most of these photos have been posted on Facebook already, so if you are there this will probably be boring to you. Sorry.)

Anna is getting to be such a big girl! Her hair is finally long enough for pigtails, so I have been learning the fine art of wrestling a toddler in order to do her hair. Actually, she's come to really enjoy having her hair brushed and put into pigtails. It's like she knows she is cute.

October has been a very busy month. We enjoyed a visit to the pumpkin patch (Wagner Farms in Corrales).


The following week, I had Columbus Day off from work. I'm not really a fan of Columbus Day but I am a fan of free days off! We went to Taos for the day and had a great time - lunch at the Adobe Bar in the historic Taos Inn, walked around the plaza for a while, then stopped at the Vivac Winery for a tasting on our way back. The weather was perfect and the leaves were gorgeous.


We carved a pumpkin last night, of which I will try to upload photos soon. Anna didn't think it was all that exciting, apparently, although she was interested in the pumpkin seeds I roasted.

Anna is amazing us every day - she is starting to string some words together into sentences and is suddenly very interested in babies, carting her doll (a Christmas gift that she hadn't been too attached to until this week) around with her, pushing her in the doll stroller, etc. We think she must be very excited about the impending birth of her "cousin," the son/daughter (don't know yet!) of our dear friends Em & Brett. Little K is over a week overdue and we are keeping on high alert!

Our last news is that I was diagnosed with gallstones after a middle-of-the-night visit to the ER last week! I'd been having stomach trouble since May, but hadn't had symptoms since July, so I was cautiously optimistic that whatever I had was healed (I thought it might have been an ulcer). No such luck - I will have to have my gallbladder removed sometime soon. I have a surgery consult on November 11 and we'll try to schedule the surgery sometime soon after that. I have heard the surgery itself is pretty minor and I should be back to normal soon - although I might not be able to eat fatty foods any more! I don't really eat them now, but... no french fries? Ever? Oh, well, there are worse things...

Thanks for all the good wishes - I really appreciate them! We are feeling very fortunate to be near my parents, who came over to our house in the middle of the night to watch Anna so we wouldn't have to take her to the ER with us. Thanks for taking such good care of us, Mom and Dad!

Stay tuned for Halloween pictures... I think they'll be worth the wait... :)

long time no post

Life has been immensely crazy in the last few weeks. Anna has been sick. (She’s on the mend, assuming she doesn’t share her mama’s allergy to amoxicillin!) We are going up to the Twin Cities this weekend for the baby shower of dear friends and plenty of family time too (so excited!!!!). Seth has been busy with Santa Fe rehearsals/performance of Haydn’s Creation, in which he was the tenor soloist (and was fabulous, if I do say so).

And, work has been insane (I was on the news!). Plus, in two weeks we are appearing for oral argument before the New Mexico Supreme Court on a case I’ve been working on for over 3 years. Should be exciting!

In the midst of this, I am pausing to post some recent photos of my sweet pea! She is such fun lately: she’ll bring you a favorite book to read (there are many; we are particularly enjoying her love of a book about the Count from Sesame Street, as she will bring you the book while saying “ah-ah-ah!”) and is on the verge of walking for extended periods of time. She can walk, she just seems to prefer not to (wouldn’t you, if someone carried you all the time?). She does love tearing up the stairs, however, making parental supervision all the more important…

Here’s Anna diving into her Easter basket from Grandma & Grandpa:



Anyone want to read me a book?



Anyone?



Mischievous!



Usually all about the sippy cups; this day only a bottle would do



Fingerpainting with maple syrup



Anna + Lambie = BFF



Goldilocks

mischief!

I got the following photo text yesterday:

the piano-playing bookworm

It’s March! Hard to believe. It’s also a couple of weeks into Lent. This year I’m not doing anything in particular – well, Seth suggested that I give up buying magazines on impulse at the grocery store, and so far I have complied. I did not give up chocolate or soda, which is a good thing. (I don’t consume much of either, but the other day I made Mark Bittman’s chocolate mousse for a dinner party and it was divine – enough to make me like chocolate, even. And, well, I’ve been enjoying Diet Dr. Pepper now and then at work.) Actually, what I’ve really tried to give up is anxiety. And so far, I’m not doing too badly. I’ll have to post more about that later (so as not to increase my anxiety over meeting a work deadline!).

Miss Anna is doing well! She has been all about books and music lately. To wit:

(Although one could make the argument that she is more interested in the yellow highlighter than the piano.) We continue to be delighted and amazed by this little girl!