Caution: You Will Become Insanely Jealous if You Read This

I fear that every one of you will stop reading this blog after finding out just how exciting of a New Years' Eve we are having. I had to leave work early since daycare closed early (it was a travesty, really). Then began The Great Target Tour of Christmas Clearance. Three Targets in three hours. $150 worth of clearance twinkles. All marked down 75%. If you do the math, you'll figure out that means I bought a WHOLE.LOTTA.LIGHTS! Way too exciting for you, I know. I'm sorry if you weren't able to have that kind of fun.

Forgive me, but I think I need to rub in our funness just a wee bit more. The Toddler is snoring away in her crib after surviving this crazy realistic dream where I changed her sleeping little self out of street clothes and into pajamas, but got her head stuck in her t-shirt when I didn't unbutton it enough, so she had to sit up and turn her little face to the ceiling so that the shirt could be freed. It was absolutely a dream. No reality there. Mr. Husband is also sleeping soundly in his bed, probably having a very similar dream (again, it's just a dream). And me? I'm going to bed right this second. I'm far too old and feeble to be awake at this late hour.

Happy 2008, y'all! I hope you are able to spend it being just as exciting as we all are.

BTW, last year we were even more exciting. Photographic evidence:

Can you believe it? We gave the baby a BATH! I know! Exciting, right?

Random Thoughts Strike Again

- Proof that having kids really does change everything: We were seated near the register at Eat 'n Park (Pittsburgh's version of Denny's). A woman with ill-fitting sweat pants, a mismatched shirt, and hair that obviously hadn't been combed for a while went up to pay. I couldn't help but think to myself "She's a mess." After paying, she returned to her table. When she left a few minutes later with her husband, a Toddler, and twins that looked to be about 6-months old in tow, I thought, "Damn, she looks good."

- Alexis took a horrible excuse for a nap today. At first it looked like it was going to be one of those days when you just struggle through and pray for bedtime to come quickly, but then Alexis decided to turn being tired into an excuse to cuddle. She spent a solid two hours laying around with me happy to just cuddle. If I thought nap deprivation could go that way every time, I would poke the bear every single time she tried to take a nap.

- My Fantasy Football season has come to an end and I am a LOSER. I took 9th out of 13 teams. I would be thoroughly embarrassed about that fact, but careful examination of the games shows that I really do know how to bring out the best in other teams. Six of my losses were against teams that posted their best score of the season when playing me. And we're not talking about improvements of just a few points. For example, Jewels scored no more than 24 points when playing other teams. Against me, she scored 105. If I could bottle those inspirational powers up and sell them, I'd be so rich.

- I want to be excited that the Steelers have made the playoffs, but it's just not working for me. I can't imagine that they'll go very far without Parker.

- A question for some of you Moms: Alexis knows all of the important body parts and has started to ask about a few that I was kind of hoping to pretend didn't exist for a while. I think I would be completely traumatized if my one-year old started spewing the proper terms for *you know*, but I don't want to teach her any cutesy terms (although, va-jay-jay cracks me up like you wouldn't believe). Should I continue ignoring the question (I hate doing that by the way, I try to always answer whatever she asks), or go for it knowing that she will walking around telling everyone what she's packing in those little Gap jeans?

- We had a glimpse of our future earlier today when we were trying to leave to go eat lunch and Alexis decided she didn't want to go. She locked herself in her house and yelled "No" through the windows for fifteen minutes. The kid is in way too much of a hurry to be a teenager. Mind you, she's a teenager that wears the same Dora t-shirt just about every single day.

Things Alexis Loves

Since I would rather spend my evening getting Toddler kisses and watching The Bourne Ultimatum than writing a blog post, here's a pictorial review of Christmas:

Alexis loves to open presents, but must do so very, very neatly. OCD, anyone?

Alexis loves her new baby bed, although this may not have been exactly what Grandma and Grandpa had in mind when they picked it out:

Alexis loves bathing her naked babies in their new tub:

Taking pictures with Elmo is always a good time:

Watching Dora dance is heaven on Earth, except that she must guard the jewelry box to make sure no one else tries to touch it.

Alexis discovered that she loves her second cousin, Michelle:

And her second cousin Brittney is HYSTERICAL:

She REALLY loves her new t-shirt:

Thanks, Karen!

You can get a super-cute alien shirt of your own here. (And you totally should because I'm pretty sure Karen has nothing to do with her time and is bored to tears lately ;-) )