Something about Nothing

I am at a loss - where do I start?!

These past five days have been such a roller coaster; with Greg seeing his ex at Target on Friday (he’s lucky I wasn’t there or I would have confronted her about a few things), to a whirlwind weekend of Christmas surprises, my engagement, spending the day (today) with Greg’s mom and brother, Ken, and to end the Holidays with a drive through the Symphony of Lights.

So much has gone on over the last five days, I can’t pin point where to start! Also, I can’t believe I’ve taken close to 500 pictures over the past five days!

I am still working on the details of Sunday, I’ve already written about Monday (I made a special Christmas Eve dinner), so I am going to write about my First Christmas with Greg and Amelia (My Family).

Greg and I stayed up too late last night. I went to bed around midnight and he says he went to bed around 1am. When I went to bed, Greg was still playing The Orange Box: Half-Life 2 (something we bought on Black Friday), which is a good game (from what I’ve watched). Sometime between 12 and 1, Greg wrapped up two more presents and filled a Christmas Stocking for me and placed it on my nightstand (isn’t Greg the sweetest?!)

Amelia was up bright and early (guess I should be used to it by now) at 7am. Greg brought her into bed with us and we all fell back asleep. Around 8am, we were all waking up again (mainly Amelia), so we laid in bed goofing around. Eventually, I woke completely up and dumped my Christmas Stocking contents onto the bed.  Amelia had a good time going through everything! Inside, there were lots of chocolates and two wrapped gifts. The gifts were a pair of earrings (not real diamonds, but they will be replaced soon - my birthday is only 5.5 weeks away) and a new Nintendo DS game: Flash Focus (these were the last minute gift ideas Greg bought while at Target on Friday)! Amelia was being so freaking adorable in bed this morning; she would take one of the chocolates from the stocking, still in the wrapper, place it in my mouth as if she were feeding me and then take it out of my mouth with her mouth! Greg tried to get a video clip of her doing this but for some reason it didn’t work. There are a few pictures though:

Amelia is such a ham, as well as absolutely adorable!

Eventually, we made it out to the living room and opened up the presents from Greg’s Dad and step-mom. Greg received a desk calendar and Amelia received an Elmo outfit, which she wore today.

Greg and I were so freaking lazy today. Plus, the day felt weird because, in a sense, we celebrated Christmas this past weekend with my family. In any event, around 10:30, we all fell asleep and took a pretty good nap! It wasn’t until noon that we all got up to get ready. Pretty lazy, huh.

It wasn’t until 1:45 that we head out to Greg’s Moms. The drive was nice, the weather was really nice and we got to play with Greg’s XM Radio (which was my big gift for Greg; and what I am listening to as I type and upload videos). I took a few pictures of the receiver:

As I mentioned, the drive was great. Look at this picture taken on Rt 40:

Clear blue skies, very little traffic - the drive was great!

Once we made it to Grandma K’s house, we unloaded the presents and placed them under the tree and then hung out and chatted. Greg and I also brought our left over ham and green bean casserole to share.

We spent a good three hours at Grandma K’s. I had a good time too! I took a few pictures of Amelia and Grandma K playing around the Christmas tree:

This one is my favorite and I’m thinking of printing it and giving it to Greg’s mom.

We learned that Amelia L.O.V.E.S. banana nut bread. And, it’s a funny story of how we learned this; towards the end of the visit, Greg’s mom offers us some banana nut bread that she made and gives a slice, on a plate, to Greg and me. When I took my slice, Amelia practically attacks the cake and literally shoves it in her mouth! You’d think she hadn’t of eatin in three days they way she jumped onto that piece, when in fact she had just finished a 10oz bottle! We were laughing so much at Amelia and her instant need of banana nut bread! I wish we had taken a video clip of it or something, but we were laughing too much. And, I didn’t get the chance to try a single crumb of cake!

Once the bread was all gone, we watched a home movie (sorta) of Greg’s middle school band performace (he played the trumpet) and an old Christmas Claymation from back in the 80’s. It was cute.

Afterwards, we headed out to see the Symphony of Lights in Columbia and then came home.

It’s been an exciting five days, to say the least, and I am ready for 2008!

 The picture above is my favorite picture taken today. Amelia loves Greg’s Seattle Seahawks hat. At times, she will sit on the floor sucking her thumb and holding onto his hat. Amelia is so attached to Greg; it’s so adorable.

Greg and I were so lazy in the beginning of the day. We didn’t get dressed until 2pm! Once we were out and about, I went to three different pawn places to try and sell my old ring. One placed offered $25 while another offered $125. I didn’t sell it. Greg thinks I can get more from an actual jewelry dealer than a pawn shop.

Once we were done with the pawn shops, we drove all the way over to Columbia to get Greg’s dress pants from the dry cleaners and then we headed over to Marley Mall to do a little shoe shopping and to see if Amelia can see Santa. Well, we got the shoes for me but no Santa for Amelia. The prices for the pictures were more than we wanted. What happened to the days when you got a Polaroid picture for like $7? The minimum for the picture was $25; the wait in line wasn’t worth it. Instead, we played around the set up. Amelia loves to crawl all over objects now a days.

So, it looks like my wish for the weather has come true and our plans for the Company Holiday Party is still on and Greg paid for the limo earlier this afternoon. I am so freaking excited! We’re going to be riding in this limo, a 2007 Pearl White Cadillac Escalade. The plan is to meet everyone at Greg’s office around 4:30-4:45pm load up and head out. Have I mentioned how excited I am about tomorrow night??!!

After the mall, we came home and watched a little A&E, fed Amelia, bathed Amelia, and she was out by 7:30! Earliest she’s gone to bed all week! Once Amelia was in bed, Greg and I started cleaning up the condo and worked on the laundry.

Right now, as I type, the dryer just buzzed and Greg just finished folding Amelia’s clothes while watching Godfather II (I’ve never seen any of the Godfather movies but Greg states this is the best one). Earlier this week, I watched a movie titled .45. I don’t know what to say about the movie, yet I couldn’t stop watching it. In a sense, it reminded me a little about that Jennifer Lopez movie, Enough, about a girl and her revenge. I don’t know if I would recommend .45 to anyone. On the plus side, it had Angus Macfadyen (the guy that played Robert the Bruce in Braveheart) as one of the main characters and he was hot (in my opinion) and on occasion his Scottish accent would come out and I would begin to melt under the covers.

Moving on…

Last week, as I was recovering from the trip to the dentist, I was looking at Davids Bridal website and found something that I think would make an awesome party/wedding favor: 

Fall themed photo albums! I showed them to Greg and he liked them! There are other items that I liked and marked as a favorite so I can remember them. I just hope that when Greg and I are finally ready to start planning our wedding the items will still be available!

 Oh! And something more exciting! The laptop is in PA at last stalking to DHL’s website and is scheduled to be delivered on Monday!!!  I get to play with my Christmas gift early. I can’t wait!!

It’s been two years, to the day (and nearly the hour as I write), since Aunt Ellie passed away.

Here’s what I wrote before I left to say good bye to her at the Hospital and here’s what I wrote when I came home after being gone for a week.

It was that week that Greg (aka: Copyguy) and I became more than friends. Prior to my aunts death, Greg and I rarely talked on the phone, but the week I was at my Moms, we talked every single night. And, we never missed a night since (except on a few occasions).

Yesterday, as it was snowing, a memory came to me. It was snowing on the exact same day in 2005 and then a flood of emotions and memories returned.

Only 21 days until Christmas!!!  I am getting so freaking excited!

Last night, Greg placed the order for the laptop. With the employee discount (his company has a special program set up with Dell to receive about 12% off), the special Dell is promoting, and some other discount, Greg saved nearly $400 on the laptop and this is all with free shipping. In addition to the laptop, Greg ordered a laptop bag (messenger style); a wireless mouse, and a cooling fan/docking station – all with coordinating colors to the laptop (which is Ruby Red). Now, the scheduled ‘build date’ is, as of last night, Dec 18 – two weeks from today – and the shipping date is Dec 21. I am really, really, hoping everything will arrive on time for Christmas (as I am sure Greg is hoping for too).

I am hoping that all of this will happen earlier than scheduled, mainly because I could really use the DVD R/RW +/- writer to finish the copying of the Huntt Family Home Movies for everyone as Christmas gifts. We’ve learned that if someone’s DVD player doesn’t support the DVD -R, then they can’t watch the DVD. If not, then I am going to have to do this the long way by copying the movies onto Greg’s computer and hook up the external DVD burner (a light scribe which would allow me to make a custom cover of the DVD) and burn that way; which, in a small way could be easier for all the DVD’s I have to make (about 7). Eh, maybe I’ll do that anyway and hand them out at the wedding reception; of course, this is going to be done after I’ve done my shopping (holiday clothes, Greg’s Christmas present, etc); Ugh, looks like my Wednesday morning is going to be uber busy.

The only downside to all my Christmas excitement is that it’s all over with on Christmas Day. As a kid, I rarely enjoyed Christmas morning only because I knew that Christmas would be over with by 10am. But, I loved that feeling of excitement waking up at 5am and sneaking out to the living room and seeing all the presents under the tree, looking at all the Christmas lights and seeing the stockings hung over the fireplace and filled to the brim with goodies – all the while listening to the Christmas music playing from the radio in the background. And then running into Mom and Van’s room to wake them up so we can open everything only to be told to go back to bed and wait until 7am. At which point I was just lie in bed and listen to Christmas music on my walkman. It was like this until my late teens (high school age) – seriously. And my brother was the same way. Lately (the last two or three years), I didn’t do anything for Christmas other than visit my Mom. The last two years I didn’t even put up a tree. This year, and all the years coming, is going to be completely different and not just because of Amelia. This year, I am with someone that I am madly in love with and gets into the Christmas spirit just as much as I do and those two factors alone makes this Christmas super special. Then we add in that this is Amelia’s First Christmas and she’s practically old enough to get into to, as in opening presents and just enjoying the excitement that we all feel.

Our Christmas plans, as of today, are to go down to my Mom’s on Sunday, the 23^rd, and celebrate Christmas together (including April, Clayton, and Olivia and I think cousin Danny) with my side of the family and then on Christmas Day, go to Greg’s Mom’s for the traditional Christmas Brunch that she cooks every year. Greg and I did talk about flying out to Detroit to visit his Dad and Step-Mom (and step sisters) but I don’t think it’s going to happen, at least for Christmas. We’re thinking of doing a trip in late January or early February. Denise, Greg’s step-mom, is dying to meet Amelia and me.

In other news…

I was notified by Schmap that my picture of the MD Science Ctr has been included in the guide on their website. Woo-hoo!!

And…

Yesterday I received the following (via emalil):

“Jessica,

After thoroughly reviewing and discussing your photograph, I am pleased to inform you that our Selection Committee has advanced your contest entry, “Drummer Girl,” to semi-finalist in the International Open Amateur Photography Contest.

Your photo will now be automatically entered into the final competition, where you now have an excellent chance of winning one of over 114 cash or gift prizes, including the $1,000.00 Grand Prize. You may even win the $10,000.00 Annual Grand Prize! And that’s not all! In celebration of your unique talent, we also wish to publish your photograph in our forthcoming anthology series . . . Endless Journeys.”

 Here’s the picture:

A few weeks ago I submitted a photo of Amelia playing the drums at the October RSC and titled the entry as “Drummer Girl”. The website, Pictures.com, hosts photo contests so I said why not and hit submit and then completely forgot about it, until yesterday when I received the above email. This is pretty exciting, in my mind. Makes me feel that I could probably submit a photo to CutestKid.com and maybe win!

I believe that’s all I have for an update. How is everyone else doing out there?

Well, I made the drive to North East, MD without any confusion or accidents! I’m even surprised, even more so since I did the driving.

Amelia slept the entire way up and the entire way down. Easy driving!

The drive wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It was a little over an hour each way and I thought I was going to be bored to tears; but I seem to do better as the driver than the passenger for car trips that are more than 45 minutes long.

Jay and Leslee’s place is amazing! It’s the three level three bedroom townhouse. The first level is the rec room and on the second level is the kitchen, living room, and eating area, and on the third level are the three bedrooms. The kitchen is great; it’s big and open! The turn out for their Open House was pretty nice! I’d say, through out the 2.5 hours we where there about 50-60 guests arrived (not all at once). Oh, and the food was out of this world! The chicken salad on croissants was outstanding!

It was bitter sweet seeing Jay. I didn’t get to spend as much time as I would have liked catching up with him. He and Leslee were very busy hosts. We did get a few minutes to talk but it wasn’t enough. Jay looks great, and so does Leslee. They both adored Amelia, as did everyone else who met her. The first thing Jay told me as soon as we walked in was “The pictures of Amelia don’t do justice!” And Jay said that more than once. I was hoping that Jay’s grandparents were going to be there but neither could make it. I asked Jay if it would be ok to send them a Christmas Card and he said they would love to receive one from me (while I was working at Cypress Creek, Jay’s granddad became a patient and I was able to catch up with the family and such; those months before I left were also bitter sweet because I was going to miss them and I wasn’t able to say good bye). There were so many things I wanted to talk to Jay about; so many things I wanted to ask him but I wasn’t able to do so. Maybe it’s for the best, given our history together.

I did become a little sad when I realized that there wasn’t going to a chance for Jay and I to catch up.  But, in all honesty, I wasn’t expecting to do so. The party was exactly as I expected it to be, but I was hoping my expectations were going to be wrong, for once.

On the way home I told Greg my feelings of the party and when I mentioned something that Jay told me a few years ago, and Greg replied “Oh, he’s that guy…”. Yeah, Jay is that guy… and that is being said in a good way.

Time to move onto another subject - no point in dwelling in the past … at least at this moment…

We didn’t go to the Science Center. Instead, we went to The Maryland Zoo! The weather was too nice to spend the day inside.

The zoo was practically empty and apparently the zoo is under some renovations so all the exhibits were not open. Greg and i were slightly disappointed in our visit (especially since we paid $30 and only had half the place open), but at the same time we were able to spend more time looking at what animals were out rather than be rushed because there are hundreds of other people wanting to look at the same animal. The most action Greg and I go to see was from two cheetahs which were a little grumpy and hungry, according to the caretaker, and were growling and roaring at each other. I never realized how loud their roars were, even though it wasn’t a full roar. It was neat nonetheless. By 4pm, all the animals were in their ‘rooms’, thus ending our trip. All the pictures from the zoo can be seen here.

After the zoo, we headed over to Costco’s for one item: Frenches Fried Onions as I was making the green bean casserole for Thanksgiving. They were sold out. D’oh!! Instead, we ended up buying three presents for family members and other household items.

Then, Greg and I went on a shopping spree at Target for all things Christmas Decorations! Oh, we had so much fun and spent $290!!! Of course, we bought other items such as diapers and wipes, the ingredients for the green bean casserole, some Pyrex dishes and many other items, but about 75% of the things bought were for our Christmas Tree, which as I write is up and decorated!! Which, you can find the pictures of our tree here.

Yes, we decorated early. The reason we did so is because we were able to do so without having to keep Amelia off of the tree. Though, we are curious as to how Amelia is going to react to the tree when she comes home tomorrow.

Anyway, it’s almost midnight and I’m pooped! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I have some cooking to do in the morning…

Happy Thanksgiving!!

From start to finish, we spent seven hours out and about.

We had a pretty good time today! The only thing that would make this trip perfect is if the skies were clear and not the cloudy haze that they actually were.

We left the house around 11:15am and we made it back about 6:15pm. Traffic was a bitch in Virginia! As soon as we crossed the the VA/MD line, everything picked up. It was odd.

There really isn’t all that much to write about for the museum, it’s pretty cut and dry; a ‘parking lot’ of older airplanes and a section with astronaut stuff - to put it bluntly. Don’t get me wrong, I actually had a good time, despite my headache and paying nearly $16 for two McDonald’s “value” meals.  And, of course all the pictures are on Flickr. I haven’t titled the pictures because, honestly, I am feeling too lazy at the moment.

Greg and I have been invited to a Holiday Party for Dec 1, all the way out in North East, MD! I haven’t told Greg, yet. It is short notice but I am sure we’re going to go, even though the person hosting the party (and he’s married now) is an old crush/love of mine (we tried the dating thing but I was too afraid to ruin the friendship that we already had). This person and I have been friends since middle school days; and I remember having the biggest crush on him in high school. He’s one of the reasons I joining the marching band even though I didn’t know how to play a single instrument, at the time.  I am looking forward to seeing him and his wife. It’s been nearly 4 years since we’ve last seen each other.

I received a text message from Michele earlier this evening informing me that she’s coming down tomorrow morning because there is another lump in her breast. This girl has already had to lump removals from her breast, both confirmed as cancerous, and she’s had a complete hysterectomy because of cancer and she’s only 34 years old. This girl has been through a lot. And, when she sent me the text message, it reminded me of a thought I had earlier today as Greg and I were on 495 heading to VA; this time in 2005 I was driving in the same direction at least once a week to visit my aunt in the hospital as she was diagnosed with cancer. My aunt was 44 when she died on Dec 5, 2005. Those 7 weeks, from diagnosis to death, were really hard for the family, and those memories came through me earlier. Michele wants me to go with her to the appointment. I told her that I have tomorrow off and I will be there if she wants me to be.

Anyway, moving on…

Tomorrow, Greg and I are planning on visiting the Science Center. We don’t have much of anything else planned at the moment and so far nothing planned for Wednesday. Wednesday will probably be a relax day, or maybe if Greg’s letter arrives in the mail we can do other things. Only time will tell.

This day flew by!

I had an two hour meeting from 12-2 and I believe that is the perfect time of day to hold a meeting. To me, it makes the rest of the afternoon zoom.

I am very thankful that it was slow enough that I was able to read a good chunk of Airframe. The book is pretty good; and that’s a high rating from me considering my low attention span and even more so considering this book is pretty much about an airplane and all it’s parts and components and history. Surprisingly, I’m able to follow it and understand all the descriptions. Weird, I know.

Damn! I just remembered that I wanted to call the court house to follow up on the mailing of the order of default and divorce papers! D’oh!

Last night, Greg was acting all weird. Around 8pm, as the fire started to pick up (in the fireplace) Greg moved the coffee table - I thought he was moving it to the computer to put the printer, that I am borrowing from Lisa, on it and give it a test drive. I was wrong. Then , he comes out with the blue fuzzy blanket and lays it on the floor… ???… I am confused as to what he’s got up his sleeve. Then, he turns off the tv, walks around and turns off all the lights. Now, it’s completely dark except for the light provided from the fire. What is Greg up to?? I ask him what’s he planning (a proposal maybe?) and he says nothing. Then he grabs my hand and lures me to the floor, on top of the blanket, and we start to make out and before you know it… I’m sure you can let your imagination finish the rest. It was a very passionate moment; with the fire in the fireplace, seeing each other only in the light from the fire - very nice indeed.

Well, I’ve got the pictures from JC Penny! They turned out great! And, I paid the $14.95 for the other three sheets and they turned out pretty good too (one is a calendar with Amelia’s picture being the main; another is a picture in various sizes with a winter themed border; and the third sheet of various sizes without a border). Mom is going to be so excited with the results of the picture. I was getting so many compliments from the other parents, who were waiting in line, on the way Amelia’s pictures turned out. I’m collecting a mailing list, if you’d like a card just send me an email (I’m surprised at how many have sent me an email)!

I’ve got the laundry going; washing all of Amelia’s clothes, bibs, and anything else she might need while at my Mom’s. I’ve packed her food and bottles and everything else in between. Amelia has begun saying actual words, though I don’t know, for certain, if she’s associating  the words with people or objects. She can, and will, say “Dad” a lot. It is a little freakish to hear Amelia saying “Dad” as we walk around Target or as soon as she sees Greg pop around the corner. Amelia will also call the bottle “Bob” on occasion. Amelia has begun to mimic the sounds that I make; such as if I say owe (usually because she’s pulling on my hair), she’ll mimic the sound I made, though it doesn’t sound exactly like she said owe but its more the pitch and such. Also, when Greg and I say “Uh-Oh” she’ll respond with a ‘Ack-Oh”, kinda like a small cough (ack) and then oh. So freaking adorable. Seriously. I should try and record her for ya’ll to see.

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY; dropping Amelia off with Mom until Thanksgiving. I will miss Amelia. I will feel guilty by not having her here and enjoying the ability to sleep in (if I can) and get up and go without her. But, Greg and I need this time off from work and being parents. We’re going to spend three solid days alone and together. I don’t think we’ve spent that much time, alone and together ever. Well, the three solid days that is. I think.

Oh, while I was at the mall picking up Amelia’s pictures, I stopped at one of the jewelry stores (the one Greg was at when Mom and I ‘found’ him) and I was looking at their rings and I saw one that I like. It’s unique and not in the ‘gawdy’ way, yet elegant. The band wasn’t thick and the setting wasn’t ultra high. Basically, all the things I’m looking for in a ring where there. When I got home I told Greg about it and handed him the business card (with the tag number off the ring) that I got from the store. Let’s see if he follows my hint…

Well, it’s about 10:40 and I’m heading to bed. Night.

I have so much on mind right now:

• Do we head up to Hagerstown and visit Michele and do some window/Holiday shopping at the Outlets;
• Do we head up to Hunt Valley , again, and look at all the Christmas decorations at Valley View Farms;
• When is Greg’s ‘letter’ going to arrive in the mail;
• What are the plans for Christmas? Whose family are we going to visit/spend time with;
• What are Greg and I going to do from the 19^th through 21^st; are we going to Delaware

And, then there is all the excitement regarding Adam finally returning the divorce papers with the signature in the proper location (which I forgot to bring to work today so I could make a copy and mail everything out)!!! I am hoping that I will be a divorcee by Christmas because that means I can start 2008 ‘free’ from all the divorce stress and ‘free’ from anything related to Adam, and pretty much a ‘free’ person again. Also, I get my maiden name back (only to give it up, again, in about a year).

To me, this divorce is like an accomplishment. I’ve accomplished true happiness and to learn and feel true love. Sappy, I know, but this is what I am feeling. I have worked hard all of my life and in the relationship that Adam and I had, and I don’t mean just physical work, but mostly emotional. I’m sure I’ve mentioned before about how challenging my childhood was (which was one reason I wanted to put Amelia up for adoption - so she wouldn’t have to go through what I did) and how much work my Mom did (again, not just physical) to support my brother and me. A lot of work, and if you’ve grown up like me, you’ll understand. Don’t get me wrong, I like to work hard for the things that mean a lot to me. Yes, there are the times that I get frustrated and depressed that the ‘work’ keeps piling up (or so it feels at times), but that’s just life. And I honestly wouldn’t want it any other way. I want to feel successful in my accomplishments and challenges; rather than have them resolved by someone else. Everyone learns better, in my opinion, by dealing with life yourself.

I see others out there who seem to have the ‘perfect’ life; they don’t have money worries, they get to buy whatever they want whenever they want (which means it has less meaning to them, in my opinion); they show off their popularity (well, supposed popularity - sometimes these friends seem fake); and brag a lot about the most petty things (again, in my opinion). And, it makes me wonder if these people feel accomplished or proud of their life. I’m sure if I were to ask them they would say yes, but I bet deep down inside they will question themselves.

I guess I’m saying that I am starting to feel proud of the choices I’ve made in my nearly 29 years of life, even the ones that I wish I could have changed. I have been through Hell, many times (have a frequent visitor pass) and I’ve always made it out. And, at this moment in my life, I don’t think I’ll be returning, ever again. As they say, “Everything happens for a reason” or “When one door closes, another one opens”, and even though I argue those sayings and don’t believe in them 100% of the time (a partial realist here), it does give me the hope that maybe those sayings will relate to me one day.

I am exhausted! This daylight savings thing has me beat and so does Amelia. She was up bright and early at 6am (the new 6am) so I’ve been up since. It has been a long day…

But, here was my weekend in a nutshell:

Friday: was a nice quiet evening. Amelia didn’t fight when it was time for bed and Greg and I watched a little TV, then he got onto the computer to play some games and I went into the bedroom for a shower and to get ready for bed. After my shower, Greg came into the bedroom with me and we laid in bed talking and watching a show on the Discovery Health channel about conjoined twins at the head. It was interesting, to me. After wards, Greg went back to his game and I went to bed.

Saturday: started out slow and laid back. Around 3pm we headed out to Babies-R-Us to look for dresses and didn’t really see anything that we liked, but we did find a crib bumper, finally, and purchased it. While we were there, we looked around at all the toys and thought of some gifts for her and picture frames (babies first Christmas, etc) that we could buy to give out as presents. After Babies-R-Us, we headed over to Marley Station Mall to the JCPenny where I wanted to confirm our appointment and to see what dresses they had, which turns out to be much more than Babies-R-Us. Greg and I found two dresses that we really liked and both dresses only had one in Amelia’s size. We were tempted to buy the one we liked the most but Mom was adamant that she wanted to pick out and buy Amelia’s first holiday dress. So, we crossed our fingers that no one would buy it before we came back. After Marley Mall, we headed over to Target and did a little window shopping, picked up some new nipples for Amelia, and loaded up on the Halloween candy. Greg, literally, was like a kid in a candy store with all the left overs. We bought around 5 bags of candy, all of which were 50% off. We did pretty good and now we have plenty of candy to have at home and take to work.. Then we walked down the Christmas Isle and I started to get all excited about Christmas and all things related (mainly the decorating of the Christmas tree and visioning our first Christmas Eve together and sitting by the fireplace listening to Christmas music and watching the Christmas lights shimmer and twinkle) and it was very hard for me to contain my growing excitement and giddiness. It was about 5pm by the time we got home. We fed Amelia and played around with her and gave her a bath and she went to bed around 7:30 (which is early for her compared to the times she’s been going to bed this past week). Once Amelia was out, Greg and I laid in bed and chatted about our future together and what to do about the Holidays. Eventually we made it to the living room to start cleaning up (basically picking up Amelia’s toys) for Mom’s visit. We turned on Greg’s iTunes play-list and started to clean, talk, and dance with each other, that moment was probably one of the most romantic moments Greg and I have had recently, looking into each other eyes and holding each other as we swayed to the music. Words can not describe the moment we had. Afterwards, we watched some TV and went to bed around 12am.

Sunday:has been a long, eventful day! First, so much for Amelia adjusting to the ‘new time’. As I mentioned, she was up at 6am. I went in and brought her to our bed and we played around and tried to wake up Greg and keep him awake. We won. The morning was nice and slow. We watched Jaws and Amelia play with the toilet paper. Mom called around 8:45am informing us that she was just about to enter Waldorf and that she was on her way. Mom was here by 9:35am, just as Amelia fell asleep for her nap. Of course Mom was ‘heartbroken’ that Amelia wasn’t awake when she arrived and had to wait nearly an hour for her to wake up. During that time, we talked about the photos and where to look for dresses and what Greg and I found. We called Sean to see if he wanted to come over but he had to go to work today. We talked about where to go for lunch and decided on Rocky Run located at Marley Station Mall. When Amelia awoke, we fed and changed her and we were on our way. By now it’s 12pm. On the way to the mall, Sean calls me and tells me that he can make it to lunch and that Aaron and Craven were coming! Of course, Mom, Greg, and I, arrived at the mall before Sean and the gang so we walked around a little bit, bought some DVD -R for the recordable DVD/VCR player. Then Mom and I went into Claire’s to look for some barrettes for Amelia, Greg on the other hand decided to do a little window shopping on his own. But, Greg took Amelia with him and Mom’s purse was in the stroller, so we weren’t able to buy anything from Claire’s. When we left to look for Greg, we found him at a jewelry store looking at engagement rings. The look on my Mom’s face was priceless; her eyes were all wide and she had the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on her!! It was a priceless moment. So, I smiled back and walked up to Greg and asked him if he would like me to take Amelia (he said yes) and told him that Mom and I were going to Sears to look at dresses, which we did and didn’t find anything of interest. Then we head over to JCPenny to show Mom the dresses that Greg and I found. Turns out Mom liked the exact same dress that Greg and I did and bought it, along with lacy socks and cute little black shoes and everything was on sale.

We meet Sean, Aaron, and Craven at the restaurant and I have to ask for a highchair around 5 times! But, the food was good and we all had a good time. Sean even paid for our lunches! Afterwards, Sean and everyone left and we headed over to JCPenny for our portraits! We were there a few minutes early and dressed Amelia in her new dress and within 5 minutes we were in the back getting her in position for her Christmas Pictures! She did very good on the first 3 and then became very cranky and showed us how tired she was. We were able to get 10 different poses, including a few with the three of us. We decided to use the coupon that allowed us to get as many sheets as we wanted for $3.99/sheet. We ordered about 10 sheets and paid for the SmilesbyWireservice. Our pictures won’t be available until the 16th of Nov and the SmilesbyWire will take 10 business days (though I am hoping sooner). We considered ordering Christmas Cards but Greg talked me out of it since we can make our own with Photoshop. In all, our total was a little over $50. Greg and I going to use some of the photos (in a nice frame) as Christmas presents for extended family members that are out of state. Once the pictures were paid for (Thank You Mom and Van) we parted ways. Amelia fell asleep in the car, as we expected, and remained asleep for a little over an hour. During that time, I called Mom to see if she made it home and we talked about Greg and his window shopping. I asked if she was going to tell Van and she said yes. I asked Mom how she felt about Greg and she said that she adores him and feels that he treats Amelia and me very well and that she can see how happy he makes me. I remember the first time Mom and Greg met (last October), Mom told me as soon as Greg left that he’s very cute. Oh, little did we know at that time that I was carrying his baby. LOL.

Well, the pictures that I’ve taken today (not that much) have been uploaded and here’s my favorite picture:

During the downtime, when Amelia was asleep, I was showing Mom the cruise catalog and showing her how inexpensive it is and such. Then she stated that she would like for all of us, the family, to celebrate Christmas on a cruise! Greg and I were like, ‘hell ya’ because the more the merrier and cheaper! Greg and I were talking about it in the car on the way to the mall and he was like “we could postpone the honeymoon cruise until Christmas time and try to get a huge ass suite (the one that has three bedrooms, each with their own bathroom, a private pool, and a huge ass living room/space).” I’m like, “OK” because it would be cool. I’m sure we could find 5 ‘couples’ to join us in a Holiday Cruise in for the 2009/2010 winter season, right? Wouldn’t you go like to go to the Southern Caribbean for a 10 day vacation? So, that is some food for thought.