Last month flew by! Sharon came down for a visit, as did Janet and Brianna. It was Sharon's first time meeting Sydney, so that was very cool. Sydney took right to her. I think they'll miss each other. Syd was so excited it was hard to get her to sleep at all (what else is new?). While Sharon was here we ate copious amounts of delicious food! I think Joe and I both gained about 5 pounds a piece. Just when I was starting to drop those baby pounds... ;-P Sharon came bearing baby gifts, and a Thanksgiving day menu. All I had to do was get the ingredients, and she did all the planning and most of the cooking. Sharon also brought her new baby, a six month old puppy named Moxie. Moxie is one of those designer dogs - a mix of certain breeds to obtain the best qualities. I forget what the mix is. Maltese and Shih Tzu? Anyway, a non-shedding bundle of energy. Janet and Bri made it here for Thanksgiving. Janet made pumpkin pie. She had wanted to make a fancy apple-something desert, but Joe demanded a plain pumpkin pie. "Tell her she can make 14 pies if she wants to, just as long as I get my plain pumpkin pie." He then went and bought the ingredients for her, "just in case". Janet elected not to make 14 pies. We got two pumpkin.
Sharon and Syd play while Tric and Moxie size each other up.
Bri and Sydney bond.
Fast friends.
Syd all bundled up for the After-
Thanksgiving Day sales. Janet's
mom Carolee made the baby taco.
Thanksgiving dinner. It was FABULOUS.
Bri and Janet slurp turkey soup the next day. Reminiscent of last
year.
We taught Sharon to play Settlers, and then I
made her play it with me alllllll week.
Syd is getting so strong! She isn't crawling yet, although she shows signs she may be getting close. She is STANDING though. If you give her your fingers, she will pull herself into a sitting position, and then tuck her feet under her and stand up. She needs a little help with balance, but it won't surprise me if she skips the crawling and goes straight to running. That is ALL she wants to do all day. "Give me your fingers, I want to stand up!" "Now!" Speaking of babies, we got some great news this month - a triple batch really. Stace and Sean are expecting! Stace is about 8 weeks along. Also, my cousin and his wife are expecting (I'm not sure if I can name names yet on that one). And... And... my cousin Jimmy just had a baby last month! Babies all around! Yeah!
Syd escapes the baby gymnasium.
Such a little person already.
Dad and Syd canoodling.
Joe plays guitar for his best girl.
Syd loves Mommy's hair.
So our neighbors to the left have five outdoors cats, as do our neighbors across the street. Our backyard and front yard have become litterboxes, and it has been thoroughly frustrating me. When I rake leaves, or mow, its like working in a minefield. Last month I snuck out under the cover of darkness after stepping in a pile of "it" while putting Syd in the car. I sprinkled an entire jar of cayenne pepper on the yard. It didn't work. Sharon looked up some other solutions while I was here, but yesterday we may have stumbled onto a solution. I looked outside and Tric had treed a cat. I brought her back inside and then thought, "It's my yard." and put her back out. I let Tric strike the fear of dog into the cat for another fifteen minutes before I brought her in again, cause, I really do like cats, and I wouldn't have let Tric hurt it. I just don't like cats defecating on my property, or peeing on my car tires (Yes! They have!). Hopefully it will stay out of my yard from now on. If anyone has ideas for cat repellent, I would love to hear them.
