Updates on Tessa

November 2001-May 2002
12 to 18 months

11/16/2001-  Tessa is almost 53 weeks old. :)  I'm still having a hard time believing I'm the Mommy of a 1 year old.  I can still remember back in the 6th grade when I had my first babysitting job and I had to call my Mom to come and help because baby Christopher wouldn't stop crying.  Sometimes I look at Tessa and still can't believe that she is ours.  I keep expecting her parents to come pick her up.  Then she smiles and looks just like me when I was little and I want to cry because I'm so happy that she's mine. 

I'm off work now until the 27th.  We could have worked today if we wanted (there were a few boxes of batches to be keyed coming in) but I bet not many people did.  Most of the people in my section have been working a lot of overtime hours trying to get all the backlog done.  I went in and worked for 6 hours last Saturday but besides that I really wasn't available for any of the other overtime hours.  Should be a good paycheck though since we worked the entire pay period.

Tessa has a few new "tricks".  She loves to say "Uh-oh".  It is so cute when she says it.  Sometimes when she is in her highchair she'll hold a piece of food out over the edge of the tray, say uh-oh, and then drop it.   Kind of her early warning system that I better get out the broom because there's going to be food on the floor to sweep up.  She also likes putting things inside other things.  Her Aunt Natalie got her some stacking/nesting cups for her birthday and while she's not very good with the stacking yet she is getting really good at nesting them together.  She also puts the small plastic balls from one of her other toys in the cups.

I bought our turkey yesterday.  This year Mom, Dad and Natalie are coming here for Thanksgiving dinner.  I've never cooked Thanksgiving dinner myself  before.  I hope the 12.75 pounds of poultry thawing in my refrigerator doesn't become a perishable doorstop or something.  

I just got the mail and Tessa got another birthday present.   She got some new books from her Aunt Barbara and Uncle Gary.  I'm putting all of her birthday cards away in her memory box.  That box is filling up pretty quickly already so I might have to figure out something else to store things in a few years from now.   

11/18/2001-  We got home just after midnight this morning.  We had gone up to Bellevue for Kathy and Gary's recommitment ceremony.  After 35 years of marriage they renewed their vows in a beautiful ceremony.  There was a full mass as part of the wedding.  I hadn't been to mass in years.  Actually, I didn't officially attend all of this one either.  The church choir was accompanied by a band and the drummer was really getting into it.   Tessa was doing fine until a really loud cymbal crash and she started crying.   Brian took her over to the quiet room but of course it it just so people in the church don't hear the children but you can still hear what is going on in the church.   The speakers in there made everything even louder.  There were even speakers in the foyer/vestibule.  I waited for a break in the service and followed Brian and Tessa out.  We spent the rest of mass split between outside where it was quite cold but rather quite to the warmth of the foyer.  Oh well, we got to see the ceremony and we would have just sat there during communion anyway.

Once we got downstairs to the reception we got to visit with all the family members.  All 6 siblings were there so they took a nice picture of them together.  I was out of film by then so I need to get a copy from Joy.  Tessa seemed to enjoy all of the attention.  She sat with Heather at the other end of the table while Brian and I ate and she did great.  One of these days we'll leave her with a sitter and actually go out. :)  There were disposable cameras on the table for people to take pictures with but many of them ended up in the hands of the little ones.   I think Kathy and Gary are going to get lots of pictures of the floor and the kids taking pictures of each other.  Mary Katherine took quite a few pictures of Tessa.

Paul put together a wonderful slide show presentation for his parents of pictures from their childhood to the present time.  It was very beautiful.   The food was wonderful, the Godiva chocolates divine, the bride was glowing, and we were pooped by the time we got home.  Since we didn't leave until 11 pm, Tessa had gone past tired and cried for the first 20 minutes of the ride home.  I don't know who was more upset, her or me.  The only thing I could do was drive and Brian let her hold onto his hand.  But after awhile she was so pissed off she just kept pushing his hand away.  We had already put her in her pajamas while we were at the church so a few ounces of bottle and she was out for the rest of the night.  I didn't hear her stir at all.

Today I finished shopping for Thanksgiving dinner, got my car washed, and turned in some film for developing.  There are some birthday pictures on there and I took several last night at the wedding.  I'll have to go tomorrow after Tessa's 1 year check-up and pick them up.  The rest of the pictures were taken by my Mom and there are a few on Brian's camera.  

11/19/2001-  Tessa had her 1 year check up this morning.  The doctor says everything looks great.   She is 28 and 3/4 inches tall and 18 pounds 4 ounces.  I guess we will have to wait a few more months before we can turn the car seat to forward facing since she's supposed to be 22 pounds for that.  She got three shots which she didn't like but did really well overall.  The nurse gave her an animal cookie after the shots and that was enough of a distraction to calm her down.  She goes back in February for her 15 month check up.  It's a really rainy, yucky day outside so we're just hanging out here at home.  I need to work on the Christmas cards and get some laundry done anyway.     

11/25/2001-  Let's see... Tessa and I went to BabyGym on Tuesday.  It was the only class we are making it to this month.  Tessa and the rest of the gang have moved up to the 12 to 18 month class.  Tessa really needs to get walking.  She was kind of a hazard crawling around because several of the kids tripped over her when they weren't watching where they were going.  In December the class will be on Monday and Wednesday instead of Tuesday and Thursday.

On Thanksgiving I got up and put the pumpkin pie cooked and then got the stuffing ready.  I helped Brian stuff the turkey and we got the bird in the oven.  We had just finished up when our kitchen sink began to back-up.  Every time our neighbor would turn on her garbage grinder the water would start to rise.  I went over to see if she was having problems too.  Hers was doing the same thing.   There was a clog somewhere.  We called the maintenance guy and he came out and worked on it for several hours but finally got it fixed about 20 minutes before the turkey was set to come out of the oven.  Mom, Dad and Natalie had been stuck in traffic on the freeway so they were a bit late in arriving.

Once they arrived and the potatoes were on the stove cooking, we put Tessa in her little Christmas outfit and got the living room ready for pictures.   There were some good family shots and one that we were especially happy with.   I had copies made to go in our Christmas cards this year.  With pictures out of the way we could get on with dinner.  We almost hit our 2:30 dinner time on the nose.  We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, olives, deviled eggs, pasta salad and rolls.  Everything turned out really good.  Being our first Thanksgiving dinner I was quite impressed with ourselves. 

After dinner we watched Shrek and had some pumpkin pie.   Mom and Dad played with Tessa.  I was surprised she was still awake since she hadn't had a nap all day.  She finally went down after everyone left and there was no one here to be ultra cute for.  She loves to be the center of attention.

On Friday I took the film in so we could get back Tessa's birthday party pictures and the pictures for the Christmas cards.  I figured out I'm spending roughly $69 to do Christmas cards this year.  $13.00 in cards, $32.00 for photos, $3.00 for stickers, and $21.00 in stamps.  Yikes.  At least they are almost done.  I just need to get the last book of stamps for the remaining cards.   I already have cards for next year ($8.00 for 60).

It's been a pretty quiet weekend.  I'm off tomorrow before going back to work on Tuesday and since Brian's flex day fell on this past Friday (a state holiday) he might take tomorrow off to make up for it.  We ended up ordering Chinese this evening for dinner because we just couldn't have turkey again.  Tessa loves turkey so it will get eaten.  Just not tonight.  

11/28/2001-  That was an interesting day.  Last night on the news they were predicting snow in the mountains above 2000 feet.  Well, we're pretty much at sea level and when I got up at 5:00 this morning to get ready for work there was two inches of snow on the ground and it was coming down fast.  I picked up the pace on my morning routine, found my gloves and headed out the door.  Usually when we have snow it sticks in the parking lot and on the side streets but the main roads and the freeway are usually clear so I wasn't too worried about my 6 mile freeway drive.  Not this time.  It was sticking to everything.  I never went faster than 35 the whole way in.  I almost got pinched between a pickup truck and a semi truck because no one could see the lines to stay in their own lane and I almost ended up as a part of the guard rail taking the curve on the off ramp but all in all I made it okay.

It continued to snow while I was at work and as the sun came up we had fun watching the traffic creep by on the freeway just outside the building.   Our power went out and all the computers went down but the generator kicked in almost immediately (darn it!).  At about 10:30 it finally started to warm up and the snow turned to rain but by now there was 4 to 5 inches on the ground and my car was completely re-covered in snow.  By the time I left at noon the road was a huge icy puddle and I stood in ankle deep water in the pouring rain to scrape my car off.  And of course some idiot was going by way too fast and drenched me in cold slush thrown up by his tires.  By the time I got in the car I was thoroughly soaked and my feet were freezing.

I knew the freeway was not going to be the way to go so I took the surface streets through town.  They weren't much better.  I ended up stuck on a hill after having to stop in the slush for a traffic light.  The guy behind me pulled up so close I didn't have any room to let the car rock back a little so I could get off the frozen patch under my wheels and get some traction.  He finally managed to get around me and after a few minutes of blocking traffic (sorry!) and some spinning wheels, I got going.  My usually 12 minute drive home took about 34 minutes.   This storm caught everyone off guard.  Even the weather man apologized for messing up the forecast.  

Tessa enjoyed watching the birds hop around in the snow outside.   We didn't take her out because of the rain.  Sounds like we may be getting more snow though so she'll get a chance to play in it sometime this winter.  I just hope it doesn't freeze tonight because all of the snow and slush hasn't melted yet and it's going to be a skating rink if it freezes over.  I have an hour grace time to get to work in inclement weather but I'd rather not have to use it. 

12/6/2001-  No more snow since last Wednesday.  We got some in the middle of the night a few days ago and it turned to ice so that wasn't fun to drive on.  We sure are getting a lot of rain though.  This past summer local officials were all in a panic because they thought we were going to have a water shortage.  Ha!  We're already ahead on rainfall and snowfall for the season.

Let's see... yesterday Tessa and I went out to Mia's house to get together with the gang.  Since I worked most of November I didn't get to see them much.  It's fun to see how big the girls are getting.  The other 3 girls are all walking.  Tessa can string 3 or 4 steps together but if she realizes what she is doing she sits down.  I think she could do it but she figures crawling is easier for now.  Besides, it keeps her closer to the floor so she can more easily find things to put in her mouth.

I'm off work tomorrow because Brian has an all day "let's get together and tell each other what a great job we're all doing" retreat for work.   I think he'd much rather spend the day actually working instead of talking to co-workers about work but hey, free food and he might get to come home at a decent hour.   Scratch that.  He has to go into work after the retreat to get everything ready for when he works on Saturday.  Oh well.  Anyway, tomorrow should be the last day of the keying cycle but I have to call tomorrow afternoon just in case they need us back on Monday.  We had an entire conference table full of food today as kind of a December birthday/early holiday party so most of us spent the day stuffing our face instead of keying.  It's 6 pm and I still haven't had anything to eat since I got home.  Good food.  Full tummy.

Speaking of calling in... I got a jury duty summons.  Blah.   I wrote a little thing to try and get excused from it.  Haven't heard back yet.  It isn't until January 7th-11th so I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.

I got all the Christmas cards done and in the mail.  I love getting Christmas cards.  New pictures of the kids, letters describing highlights from the year gone by... definitely an essential part of the holidays.  Tessa and I are going to go to Kent on Sunday to help Mom and Dad decorate the Christmas tree.   Well, I'll be putting things on, I'm sure Tessa will be trying to rip them off.   Should be an entertaining scene.  

12/10/2001-   Yesterday Tessa and I went up to Mom and Dad's to help decorate the Christmas tree.   Tessa sat with my Aunt Merilee while Mom and I got the lights on.  Natalie arrived while we were putting on the ornaments.  I thought Tessa would try to take the ornaments off but Natalie showed her how to put them on and she did!  She even knew they needed to have a hook on them.  We tried giving her one without the hook in case she tried to put it in her mouth and she looked at us like we were nuts.  We put a hook on and she put it on the tree.  It took her several tries and I think it ended up laying on the branch instead of hanging from it, but it was so cute to watch her being a little helper.  Dad had hurt his ankle so he had a good excuse to sit back and let all the women do the work. :)

This morning at BabyGym Tessa even helped put all the balls back in the bag after parachute time instead of having to take them away by force.  Miss Judy came to her with the bag and she willingly put the balls inside.   I almost fell over.  Usually she hangs onto them for dear life.  She has also learned to put her little toy phone up to her ear.  Most of the time anyway.   This morning she was putting it on her nose.  Anyway, hopefully she will get the idea and learn to talk into the real phone when Grandma calls instead of just staring at it and giggling.

Christmas presents from Margaret and Paul arrived today.  I was good about leaving them alone for about 3 hours and then I couldn't stand it anymore and we opened them.  I got a Peggy Fleming ornament to go with the Kristi Yamaguchi one I got last year.  Tessa got a cute penguin ornament, some soft cars that you pull back and then let go on their own, a M&M T-shirt for this summer and an M&M sippy cup.  Boy did she know what that is for!  She snatched it out of the box and started sucking on it.  She freaked out when I took it away to go to the kitchen to fill it for her.  She pretty much drug it around with her the rest of the day.  Of course the biggest hit was the wrapping paper, bows, packing boxes and sheets of bubble wrap.   

12/16/2001-   It was a pretty quiet week.  We stayed in for the most part.  I think someone got their biblical events mixed up somewhere.  This is supposed to be Christmas, not the Great Flood.  I keep waiting for Noah's Ark to float by the window.  Last summer everyone was screaming drought and now we've had more rain since October 1st than we did during the entire rainy season last year.  This current storm is supposed to fizzle out over night but there are 3 more stacked up off the coast waiting to dump more rain on us.  There was a break in the rain on Friday so Tessa and I did a Costco trip.  You can get to $170 pretty quick when you buy $28 in frozen chicken breasts, a $30 box of diapers (no more formula though!  Yeah!),  $20 worth of batteries,  36 rolls of toilet paper, and a bunch of other stuff.  That night I went to Albertson's and did a big shopping trip there too.  I'm trying to do one big trip a month and then just go periodically for things we run out of quickly like milk and yogurt.  I spend entirely too much money on food if I go in there every 3 or 4 days.    

I got a notice yesterday that I've been excused from jury duty.  Yeah!  One less thing to worry about.  Looks like I am going to have to do some rearranging every first Thursday of the month though.  Brian has a morning meeting he really should be at and I always work the first Thursday of the month.  Ugh.  And now that I share a desk if I want to stay late on a different day to make up for it I'll have to move and sit someplace else so Jodi can start working.   I don't know.  I'll talk to Suzi and work something out.

I've been working on teaching Tessa her body parts.   She knows where her head is.  She's so cute putting her little arms up and clutching the top of her head.  She knows where her nose is too but that is kind of hit or miss if she'll point to it or not.  She kind of gives me this look like, "What kind of an idiot are you?  I just showed you where my nose is a few days ago!  Did you forget already?"  Can't really blame her.  It is kind of annoying being asked the same question over and over.      

12/21/2001-   While last week was relatively quiet, this week was a busy one.  On Monday Tessa hit a huge milestone-- she started walking!  She has been on the verge for several weeks and suddenly Monday afternoon she just let go of the edge of the couch and went toddling across the carpet.  She still crawls if she wants to get somewhere fast or if she falls down in the middle of the room where she is not near anything to pull herself back up on. but she's getting the hang of it.  On Monday we also turned her car seat around so now she is facing forward.  She's not quite the 22 pounds she should be according to the car seat manual but on sunny days she was just miserable with the sun in her eyes if it was coming in the back window.  She was a little frightened of the windshield wipers the first time she rode facing forward.  She'd never seen them before!

On Wednesday we went to the last BabyGym class in December.  The Olympia Center follows the same schedule as the school district so with the kids out for the holiday break, no BabyGym classes.  Tia, Mia and I have all decided not to sign up for classes for the next few months.  We are just going to get together at each others houses once or twice a week in the afternoons for awhile.   Yesterday I went and had lunch with my friend Cyndi.  Her job brings her to Olympia from time to time so we just met at the Burger King near where she works.   She had Christmas gifts for Tessa and it was fun to catch up on some things.

Today we made the trek up to Seattle for the children's Christmas party at my Mom's office.  We took Tessa last year when she was 5 weeks old.  Santa comes and passes out presents to all the kids and I was a little worried that she would cry when she sat on his lap.  Okay, I wasn't a little worried, I was a lot worried.  She usually does pretty good with strangers but a guy with a big white beard and a red suit might have been too much.  Luckily she did pretty well.  She didn't smile but I think we got some cute shots of her with a puzzled look on her face as she looked up at Santa.  Tessa got a cute farm animal book and charmed everyone.  Of course.  It was fun watching all the other kids there.  There was a little girl younger than Tessa who had these tiny little pig tails sticking straight up on top of her head.  So cute!

We had planned on going up to Mom and Dad's on Christmas Eve but since Brian took today off he needs to work on Monday.  We're going to let Tessa sleep in her own bed (and us in ours!) and head up early on Christmas day.   Since we won't have to worry about overnight bags for Brian and I and I took the gifts up when we went to help decorate the tree, all we have to worry about taking is stuff for Tessa.

12/26/2001-   Happy Holidays!  On Sunday Tessa and I went up to Kent to have lunch with my friends Shellie and Ivy and Ivy husband and new baby girl.  Ivy, Wayne and baby Sarah were up from Texas visiting Ivy's parents for Christmas so we took the opportunity to get together.  Sarah is just over 2 months old and is a little doll.  She slept peacefully even through Tessa's squealing and jabbering.

Christmas Eve Brian had to work for part of the day and then we spent a quiet evening here at home.  We got up early Christmas morning and headed up to Mom and Dad's house to open gifts and have dinner.  I got a new vacuum cleaner that picks up so much stuff!  I thought the carpets were pretty clean but just a quick pass through the living room sure deposited quite a bit in the canister.   I also got a beautiful opal necklace from Nat and my Russell Crowe calendar from Brian. :)  Brian got a big gas barbecue from Mom and Dad.  We had to leave it at there place for now because it wouldn't fit in the car.

Tessa made quite a haul.  From books and bibs to toys and more toys.  It seemed to be the year of the Mega Bloks when it came to her toys.  She got Mr. Piano and Mr. Drum both filled with Mega Bloks as well as a little plastic wagon with even more Mega Bloks.  This morning my Dad stopped in on his way through town and dropped of his presents to her.  He and his wife Toni got her a big bag of 120 Mega Bloks, the Sparkling Symphony Stacker and even a bike!  Not a tricycle, a real bike with training wheels.  It's so cute!  She also got some cute clothes, ornaments to go in her ornament box (for her tree someday) and some bathtub toys.

I think Tessa picked up a cold somewhere along the way.  She just got up from a 2 hour nap (which is long compared to her usual naps) and is quite fussy.  Brian and I have been battling headaches all day.  Tessa must have thought I was showing her where my head was as I sat with my fingers pressed to my forehead because she started clapping for me and then showed me where her head is.   Thanks for the encouragement kid.  She's getting a lot better with her walking.  Still falls quite a bit and looks like she's trying to walk the deck of a ship in rough seas, but she's going longer distances all the time.  She's even tried to run to beat me to an open door where she knows she's not supposed to be.

I head back to work tomorrow after being off since the 7th.  I'm not really looking forward to that 4:30 am alarm clock.  Blah!    

1/3/2002-   Happy New Year!  Wow.  I can't believe it is 2002 already.  I think Tessa being born at the end of the year makes the next one go so quickly.  Even though she was born in 2000 it was practically over by the time I got my bearings and came to grips with the fact that I was a Mommy.  2001 just flew by.  In many ways it was the best year of my life because of Tessa but in other ways I am so glad it's over.   I didn't really make any resolutions this year except to scrimp and save every last penny for a down payment on our house. :)  I'll talk more about that as things develop.     

Anyway, all of Tessa's friends left about an hour ago.  They were all here for a play date.  Last week we all met at Mia's house and next week we'll go out to Tia's.  I'm enjoying this a lot more than BabyGym.   Having lots of friends is great but I enjoy being able to really sit down and talk with a few special friends.  Tessa had some juice and crashed for a nap right after they left so I've been trying to get things done.  I put all the toys away, started some laundry, cleaned the kitchen... and a dozen other little things I needed to get done.

New Year's Eve was quiet here.  I didn't stay up until midnight but didn't have any trouble figuring out when 2002 arrived.  People shot off fireworks for a good 20 minutes.  It didn't wake Tessa up so I didn't really mind.  I think she is starting to get her molars in.  She's been pretty fussy and chews on her fingers all the time.  I give her the teething ring we have that can go in the refrigerator but she can't get it far enough back in her mouth to do any good.

Work has been kind of screwy with the holidays but this is the busy time of the year and it looks like I won't get a break until late February.  Overtime has already been approved for the last weekend in January and the first three weekends in February.  Since I only work 6 hours a day I'd have to work more than 10 hours on the weekend to get paid time and a half but more hours on the paycheck is more hours whether it is regular pay or time and a half.  It's all money and all good for the bank account.

1/9/2002-  Well, I was wrong about not getting a break.  Today was my last day until probably the 28th.  If work starts coming in sooner they'll call us back but for now it looks like I have a few days to sleep in. :)  People are not turning in their excise tax returns as quickly as they usually do.  Yesterday we had pizza and cake for the January birthday people in our group.  Brian brought Tessa in so I could stay.  Mia came in with Ashley so Tessa had someone to play with.  Tessa was really hesitant to smile for anyone except Mia.  Since we see her at least once a week, Tessa knows and trusts her.  Brian and I really need to leave her and go out on a date for some alone time and I think we will probably leave her with Mia and Matt.  She's going to throw a fit but Mia knows that.  When we get the chance to watch Ashley it will probably be the same way but we understand each others anxiety about putting someone through the crying and hysterics.  I love the fact that she loves me so much but she needs to learn to be without one of us from time to time.  She has got a really bad temper and her high pitched screaming is starting to wear on me.

But of course, being so cute she's so easy to love.   I got all teary eyed the other day when she was walking across the living room with Brian, holding on to one of his fingers.  It was the most precious thing I've ever seen.  She's also starting to talk more.  If she finds something on the floor she'll bring it to us and say "ick".  She says "mo-mo" a lot and I thought she was calling me that but she says Mama too so we're not quite sure what mo-mo is.  I thought she was trying to say Elmo but she doesn't seem to want her Elmo doll when she says mo-mo.  Who knows.  When she wants something to drink she says "Nana".  That seems to be a multi purpose word for several things.   There are lots of words she'll repeat if you say them first but hasn't really used them on her own yet.

She's doing really well learning her body parts.   She knows head, hair, nose, feet, tummy, ears, mouth, and fingers.  She looks down her shirt when you ask where her tummy is and when she shows you her fingers she wiggles them.  It's so cute.

I'm thinking of getting my hair cut.  Not really short but right now it bugs me because it just hangs there.  I put it in a ponytail all the time just to keep it out of my face.  I'm trying to find a picture of what I want before I go in there and just get it chopped off.

1/17/2002-   Things are going pretty well.  I got called back to work early so I started back yesterday for a few hours.  I had to leave early because Brian had already committed to an early meeting.  I won't work next Wednesday or Thursday at all for the same reason.  I'll get in 4 and a half days more than I would have otherwise so that's good.  We can use the money.  Since Brian adjusted his W-2 for this year we are going to owe a couple hundred dollars in taxes instead of getting a few thousand back like we usually do.  Ick.  We've been saving like crazy for a down payment on a house and now we have to hand over some of it to the government.

Tessa is still doing her high pitched scream when she gets mad or frustrated.  Then I get frustrated because I don't know what she wants.  We're trying to break her of the habit before it drives me completely bananas.  All of her friends came over today.  Last week she and I went to Mia's on Thursday.  It was just Ashley and Tessa because everyone had other commitments.   Last Friday we went to Mia's again and this time everyone in the gang came and Karen brought her little Annaliese.  She's only 3 and a half months.  I'm glad Tessa is past that.  I want her to talk so she can tell me what she wants instead of just screaming at me.

Tessa got some new clothes today from Grandma and Grandpa Robinson.  Cute little turtle necks and pants and things.  Time to dress her up and take her out!     

1/23/2002-  We've had a pretty busy week.  On Saturday, Mom and Dad came down and then the five of us and our friend Tia headed down to Centralia to look at Ruby's house.  If all goes as planned it will be our house by summer.  Mom and Dad seemed to like the house and Tia is our realtor and gathered information she needs to do a comparative market analysis.   We've already been contacted by Ruby's Realtor so I guess the ball has started to roll!  Brian took some pictures of the rooms while we were there.  There's a lot I want to do with the place (curtains, light fixtures, paint, etc.) but for now it's just perfect for what we want.

On the way home we stopped and got some lunch and looked at a campground near Rochester that Mom and Dad might stay at this spring.   They stayed for awhile after we got home and played with Tessa for awhile.   Mom brought down the little rocking chair that was mine when I was little.   It's still kind of big for Tessa.  She needs help getting into it.  Later in the evening she decided it was more fun to tip over than to sit in and she gave herself a bloody lip when the side of the chair hit her in the mouth.  I guess the chair will have to be a closely monitored item for now.

On Sunday we went out to Mia's house for Ashley's birthday party.  She turned 1 back on December 30th but they didn't want to try to get everyone there for a party right in the middle of the holidays.  We discovered Tessa has quite an extreme fear of balloons.  She didn't want o have anything to do with them.  She finally started to relax and wasn't clinging to us so badly when one of them popped.  Kind of a setback.  Oh well.  Just another one of her phobias.  She doesn't seem to be as afraid of plastic bags as she used to and sometimes I can blow my nose without her caring.  She's doing better. :)  We had a good time watching Tessa, Ashley and Anna play and had some pizza and cake.

Monday was the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday so Brian and I both had the day off.  We went to Applebee's for lunch with Michele.   I hadn't seen her in a long time and she hadn't seen Tessa for several months since she didn't make it to her birthday party.  Natalie was supposed to come down later that afternoon but couldn't make it.

I took today off because Brian had already scheduled morning meetings before we knew I was going to be called back to work early.   Tessa and I went out and ran some errands.  I had two rolls of film that needed to be developed, I got a few new shirts at Target, and we went to Toys R Us for some new slippers for Tessa.  I also go her a Busy Poppin' Pals toy while we were there.  It has switches and levers and buttons that Tessa has to move to open the little doors on top that the animals pop out of.  She would always play with this toy when we went to BabyGym.

Tessa's picked up a few new words.   "Hot" and "Nice".  Of course now everything is "hot" even if it's not. :)  We're trying to teach her not to pull my hair (which drives me absolutely insane) so now after she pulls it (still) she'll lightly run her hand down my cheek and say, "nice".  She's kind of got the idea I guess.  We've noticed that "shoe", "juice" and "cheese" all sound alike when she says them.  Usually it's in context so it's not a problem though. 

On a historical note...  The Olympic flame came through Olympia this morning on it's way to the Winter Games in Salt Lake City.   I was going to go over to Pacific to watch but I didn't want to stand in the rain with Tessa.  The news did pretty good with their coverage and I could hear the news helicopter overhead since the route was just a few blocks from here.  Also, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson returned to Bremerton today after 6 months at sea.   They were the first to see action in the war in Afghanistan.  I think they said there were 76 crewmen on board who were coming home to new babies they hadn't seen yet.  It must be hard enough to be away for so long but to know you have a new son or daughter waiting for you must make it seem even longer.              

1/30/2002-  Well, Tessa had the stomach flu late last week and after Brian and I both got thrown up on, we had a couple of sleepless nights, and Tessa had a fever of 102.5, we finally made it through.  We took her to the doctor on Monday because she was pulling at her left ear a lot and we thought it might be an ear infection.  The doctor said her ears are perfect and there was nothing wrong that she could see.  Now Brian has whatever it was.  He stayed home sick both today and yesterday. 

We've been working on getting Tessa to go to sleep on her own without needing to be rocked.  It's been a bumpy road.  We put her in her crib and let her cry and we've gotten over feeling like we're being mean to her.   But when it's 2:00 in the morning and she's crying and we suddenly hear the neighbors upstairs banging things around because Tessa has disturbed their sleep, we tend to give in and rock her just to quiet her down.

I hate apartment life.  Keeping this place warm is a huge issue since were pretty much sitting on cement and there is very little insulation.  We keep the curtains closed as much as possible because you can feel a breeze coming through if they are open.  I remember last winter we were running the heat pretty high because Tessa was really little but since there's no insulation between us and the upstairs all the heat goes up top them.  We could hear them opening their windows because they were too hot from our heat!  So then the heat would go out their windows and our heater would kick on even more.  Noise is another big issue.   With the parking lot right outside the window and the neighbors upstairs coming and going at all hours, Tessa often wakes up just from the noise.  My favorite is when the guy upstairs hangs out the window directly above Tessa room and yells to his buddies in the parking lot at 5:00 in the morning.  Sometimes I don't know why we try to be nice about how much noise we make.  He obviously doesn't care if he disturbs us.

I guess I'm done ranting for now... Karen came over today with baby Annaliese.  Playgroup had kind of unofficially been cancelled but we didn't tell her in time.  It was nice to visit with her one on one though.  When all the kids are here it's a little crazy and poor little Anna gets lost in the shuffle.

2/4/2002-  It's only Monday and I'm already tired.  I worked 12 hours this weekend and will be working again next weekend.  Busy time of the year in our office.  The extra money is nice since we're saving for the house but it would have been nice to sleep in a little bit.  Tessa is now in the habit of going to bed around 10:30 pm and waking up at about 9:00 am.  She's even been sleeping through the night for the last several nights.  She had two molars break through a few days ago and I think that has helped her temperament.

Mom was in town this weekend with her Know Your Government 4-H group.  I had dinner with them Friday night.  The buffet place we were supposed to go to was packed so we ate at the food court in the mall.  The kids wanted to go to the mall anyway so this was cheaper and when they were done eating they could go ahead and wander for awhile.  Tessa learned to drink from a straw.  She was just playing with Mom's empty drink cup when she stuck the straw in her mouth and started sucking out some of the melted ice.  I dumped some of her juice in there and she drank that through the straw too.  I didn't have her stroller in the car so we used one of the complimentary carts they have at the mall.  It's shaped like a little car and Tessa had a blast turning the wheel back and forth.  She tolerated riding in that for much longer than I thought she would.  We were trying to get her to walk with us but I think will all the strangers and the mall being so big she got a little freaked out.   

Yesterday after I got home from work Mom stopped by on her way out of town to pick up Natalie's birthday present.  Saves me a little on postage.  We lounged around and watched the New England Patriots win SuperBowl XXXVI.   Too bad we didn't put any money on them.  No one thought they were going to beat the Rams.  The commercials this year were kind of disappointing.  Everyone was trying to be politically correct with their advertising so there were very few funny ones. 

2/10/2002-  I finally got a day off today.  Our manager decided she didn't want us working on Sunday again.  I ended up working 13 days in a row though.  It didn't really matter since Tessa was up at 5:45 am anyway.  Usually she sleeps until about 9:00 but she took a really late nap yesterday and it messed up her whole schedule.  We're kind of keeping her up on purpose tonight to get her back on track a bit.  So tomorrow is Monday again already and I didn't get to sleep in.  But with all the overtime everyone has put in were on a record pace and should be done by Wednesday or Thursday.   Having time off in February is usually unheard of and we may get a whole week!

We had a pretty busy week.  On Tuesday we went over to Erin's for playgroup and then we all got together again on Friday at Tia's place.   Since all the kids had been sick the week before we decided to meet twice this week.  On Thursday Natalie came down to visit for a few hours.  She hadn't seen Tessa since Christmas.  She had made a loaf of bread at home and we cooked it here and then promptly devoured it.  Yum.  Nothing better than fresh baked bread.

Tessa has another two teeth.  She's now up to 12 teeth.  This time it was two of the top molars that came through.  I just noticed them today but they look pretty new so I'm guessing they broke through pretty recently.  Her sleeping has still been pretty good.  She woke up once the other night but I think it was a nightmare that woke her.  It didn't take Brian very long to get her back down.

Her vocabulary is still growing by leaps and bounds.  And what she doesn't say, she can understand.  I accidentally said "Do you want to take a bath?"instead of "Do you want to take a nap?" the other day and she made a bee line for the bathroom and whipped back the shower curtain.  She loves baths.  She doesn't like getting dressed afterward and that is always a fight but I think she'd stay in the tub until the water turned icy if we let her.

Tantrums are still a problem at times but we are trying to teach her that she'll get better results if she tells us what she wants instead of screaming.  Of course, sometimes she ends up screaming anyway because she's trying to talk and tell us what she wants but we're just not interpreting her correctly (or fast enough).  She's learned that pointing at what she wants works pretty well too.   Sometimes she just wants us to name what she's pointing at so she can try and repeat it.  Just like a little sponge.      

2/20/2002-  Let's see... what have we done in the last 10 days?  Well, we finished the keying cycle at work in record time for a February so I've been off since the 14th.  We didn't do anything special for Valentine's Day.  I certainly don't need chocolate (I want chocolate but I don't need chocolate) and we're still working on leaving Tessa with a babysitter for the first time.  Heidi gave us a $50.00 gift certificate to Anthony's when Brian fixed her computer so we need to use that sometime.  Brian has been on vacation this week which has been nice.  Today while I was at Mia's house for playgroup he mopped the kitchen floor and steam cleaned the living room rug.  I had been talking about doing the rug when I got home but he did it while we were gone.  I rearranged the living room a bit.  We'll see if Tessa will leave the lamp alone now that she can get to it.

Last week I met up with the gang at the park.   It was cold and Tessa was fussy so we didn't stay very long.  She loved the slide though.  We're going to a different park next week but it will be in the afternoon so it shouldn't be so bad.  Maybe Tessa will tolerate staying more than 45 minutes.  Last Friday Brian watched Tessa while I went to Tacoma to have lunch with Cyndi.  There were several times when I'd kind of get frantic looking around for Tessa and then remember she was at home.  I bought her a little pair of boots and a new pair of sneakers in the next size up.  They are 4's and are a little big on her but the 3's are getting tight.

She's been doing a new little "trick" for a few weeks now.  She'll put her arms up over her head and say "Touchdown!"  It is so cute.  She tries to repeat everything we say.  We surprised Erin at the park the other day.  I saw her car coming and I said to Tessa, "Here comes Anna."  As Erin and Anna were walking towards us across the grass Tessa yells, "Anna!"  Saying "Ashley" is giving her some trouble because she drops her L's.  It comes out like "Ash-ee".  One of my favorite phrases of hers is "Oh yeah".      

2/25/2002-  We've had a few busy days.  On Friday evening Tessa and I went down to Centralia to have dinner at Country Cousin with Mom and Dad and the rest of their travel club.  They were all camped at an RV park a little way up the freeway.  I had the pot roast but should have gone with my first instinct and had the BLT.  Everything in there is fried or smothered in gravy.  On Saturday Tessa and I met the group at the Miller Brewery.  They had all gone on the tour and we got there while they were in the tasting room.  Reva bought Tessa a little bear that is wearing a Orange Cream shirt.   We all headed over to Jack In The Box for some lunch and then up to Capitol Campus for a tour of the Capitol Building.  I hadn't gone on one of the tours in a long time and hadn't been since he big earthquake last year.  At the end of this legislative session the Capitol Building will be closed for two years while they do $26 million in earthquake repairs and $100 million in renovations that were already planned before the earthquake.  We had a good time and everyone seemed to enjoy seeing Tessa.

Today was Tessa's 15 month doctor visit.  She now weighs 19 pounds 4 ounces and is 25 1/2 inches long.  Dr Fukui doesn't think she is gaining enough weight so we have to go back on March 21st for a weight check.   Were supposed to cut out the juice we've been giving her because milk has more calories.  We're also supposed to quit giving her a bottle.  Should be an interesting next few weeks since we are stopping juice and her bottle cold turkey.   We were also told we could go ahead and see if she wants to start potty training.   Tessa got a potty chair from Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas so I've already set it up in the bathroom so she can sit on her potty when I am in there.  She loves following me into the bathroom anyway.  Trying to keep her away from the plunger and the toilet paper while I'm brushing my teeth is always an adventure.  Maybe the potty chair will be enough of a distraction.

She also got 3 shots today.  She didn't like that too much.  She's always fine once it's over and Brian picks her up though.   But besides the weight check next month we don't need to take her to the doctor again until she turns 2 years old.  She's sleeping right now so I'm going to try and get some stuff done.  Hopefully she'll take her milk out of her sippy cup when she gets up.

3/7/2002-  Every time I think of doing an update something seems to come up.  Pretty typical I guess with a one year old in the house.  Anyway, I went back to work on the 27th and it was a very short cycle because today they cut us loose again. :)  We had our potluck for the March Birthdays (just me and Millie).  We don't go back to work again until the 27th.  Months like this make for small paychecks but at least I get to spend 2 1/2 weeks with Tessa.

On Feb 27th we went down to the park on Capitol Lake with Ashley and Anna.  The three girls had a blast playing on the slides and walking along the boardwalk.  It was a sunny day but the wind coming off the lake made it kind of chilly.  Last Friday playgroup was at our place.  Yesterday we all met at Erin's house.  I love taking Tessa out because it gives me a chance to dress her in some of the cute outfits she has.  Brian brought her into work today so I could stay for the potluck and she was so cute in her little overalls and pink shirt that Grandma and Grandpa gave her.

The weather today has been really weird.  Ever since about 7 am it will snow like crazy and we'll get about a half an inch of accumulation and then the sun will come out and it will all melt.  About 20 minutes later it snows again and then the sun comes out.  Over and over.  When I went into Tessa's room to put her down for her nap there wasn't a flake to be seen and when I came back out 20 minutes later it looks like a blizzard outside.  Very strange.   At least it looks like I won't have much snow to deal with tonight when I have to go to the store.

Tessa's new trick is taking her pajamas off.   The other night I was busy on the phone with the real estate lady and watched her get completely out of her pj's.  Luckily I got off the phone in time before she got her diaper off.  She did it the other morning when Brian was watching her too.

She's doing much better about going to sleep on her own.  We still lay down on the bed in there and then sneak out after she's fallen asleep but I actually enjoy the time.  I can just have a few minutes of quiet to think and I sometimes fall asleep and take a little nap myself.  Usually she is asleep in less than 10 minutes.

I turn 31 tomorrow.  Brian is taking the day off and Mia is going to come over with Ashley and watch Tessa for us while we go to lunch at Anthony's downtown.  This will be her first time without Mom or Dad.  Pretty big step for all of us but it's also about time.  We also meet with the loan officer at the bank tomorrow morning.  Big day all around.    

3/18/2002-  That was a strange 10 days.   Let's see... on the evening of the 7th Mia called to let us know she wasn't going to be able to come over on my Birthday to watch Tessa.  Little Ashley was sick and throwing up.  I told her it was no problem at all we could just reschedule.  So we all went to bed and at 2:00 am on my birthday we were awakened to the sound of Tessa throwing up in her crib. :(  After a bath, a new crib sheet, two changes of pajamas, and more throwing up, Tessa was so tired she finally fell back to sleep.  She kept having dry heaves through the night but was sleeping through them.  Over the next few days we all got it.  Brian and I never threw up but we felt yucky.  I think everyone we know has had it.  We still haven't made it to Anthony's for lunch but our gift certificate is good until next January.

The rest of my birthday turned out very nicely though.  We met with one of the loan officers at Washington Mutual and got our pre approval for our home loan!  I came home that afternoon and packed my first box.   I've only packed 10 or 11 boxes so far but it's exciting and we have a lot more to pack.  We won't be moving until the end of June or beginning of July so I can't get to aggressive about it anyway.

By the 13th, Mia's family was feeling pretty good and we were doing fine but Karen and her family were sick so she couldn't host playgroup that day.  We met out at Mia's instead and then met there again on Friday.  It was just Tessa, Anna and Ashley playing together on Wednesday but Karen and Tia were both able to come on Friday.  We stayed for a long time on Friday, sitting in the sunshine coming through the window, talking about all sorts of things.

Our dryer quit working Saturday morning.  I had already washed a load and then when I tried to dry it all I got was a terrible noise.   The repair man came today and said the motor was shot so we are getting a new one tomorrow morning between 9 and 11 am.  May as well take advantage of not having to pay for it ourselves while we can.

Saturday night I left Tessa at home with Brian and went out to dinner with Erin and Tia.  Mia couldn't make it this time but she'll join us next month.  We went to a great Mexican restaurant and had a great time talking for hours without having to watch the little ones at the same time.  We're going to try and make it a monthly outing and try a new restaurant every month.

I just got off the phone with the realtor.  We are going down on Wednesday to fill out the paperwork on our house!  Wow!  It took us 5 months to really get anything going but now in just 12 days we will have gotten our loan approval and filled out the real estate paperwork.  We still have to have an inspection done and such but we should be moving in to our house in about 100 days!

3/26/2002-  It's been another busy week.  Last week we went to Tia's house and then Karen's house for our playgroup.  Ashley has been sick so we haven't seen her in a few weeks.   Everyone is coming over here tomorrow and it will be good to all be together again.

We signed the papers on the house last Wednesday and spent this morning down there for the inspection.  The guy found several things that should be fixed but it sounded like there weren't any deal breakers.  Little stuff.  It cost us $350 but I guess it's better to know about all these things now instead of running into problems down the road.  Ruby said if she finds a place to live soon she could be out in May.  Our move in date may be sooner than we first expected.

Last Thursday we went to the doctor's office for Tessa's weight check.  She now weighs 19 pounds, 8 ounces.  I thought gaining 4 ounces in 24 days was pretty good but the doctor still thinks she is too small.  We are supposed to put butter on everything and even put Carnation Instant Breakfast in her milk.  I think she's just small and has Brian's metabolism.  She eats fine so I'm not going to stress about it too much.  If she was developmentally delayed I'd be more concerned but she's smart and happy and active.

On Saturday Tessa and I headed up to visit with Grandma and Grandpa for a little while.  She got her Easter stuff in a neat bucket with a shovel.  Two cute outfits for this summer, some bath toys, a dolly, a book and some chocolates.  I gave her a few M&M's and she seemed to like them.  We stayed for lunch and then I changed her into a cute little dress and we headed for Auburn for my friend Leigha's baby shower.  She is having a little boy next month.  We didn't get to talk for very long but we are going to get together sometime this summer.   Maybe she will be able to come to our house warming party in July.

Sunday night I watched the Oscars.  "A Beautiful Mind" took Best Picture, Best Director (Ron Howard) and Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Connolly).   Russell did not win for Best Actor. :(  He was expected to win but Denzel Washington won instead.  Oh well.  He was a presenter so the night wasn't a total loss for his fans.

Yesterday I met up with Gwenna and baby Reese and we went down to Rochester to see Stacey's new house.  It's about twice the size of the mobile home they were living in and very nice.  High ceilings, skylights, big bedrooms, nice kitchen.  Makes me even more excited to get into our place.

4/6/2002-  Things have been pretty busy.  I've been trying to get things packed up without being overly aggressive about it and packing things we might need.  Now instead of June 22nd, it looks like we will be moving in May 25th.  We have to step up our moving plans by a month.  The sooner the better.  The neighbors upstairs are driving me nuts.

On Easter I took Tessa out to Toby and Tia's house for an egg hunt.  Tia's Dad had a bunny costume so he dressed up and the kids watched out the window while he put plastic eggs all over the lawn.  Tessa didn't mind until he came up to the window to wave.  Kind of freaked her out.  One he had put out some of the eggs we headed outside.  I had bought Tessa a little basket the night before.  Once I showed her what she was supposed to do she started picking up eggs left and right.  Anna came over and started putting her eggs into Tessa's basket!   And then later when Macy abandoned her basket to go see the bunny Tessa started moving Macy's eggs into her own basket.  Little thief.  I managed to redistribute some before we left without her noticing.

What else have we done lately... signed some more paperwork for the house, had our taxes done, went to playgroup at Karen's house.   This morning we all met at JC Penny's to have the girls pictures taken.  We had them all dressed in overalls and eventually got a cute one of all 4 girls together.   Ashley and Macy were not very happy about the process :(  and Anna fell over backwards off the prop she was sitting on but we got the shot.  I think the girls would have done better if the lady taking the pictures wasn't so LOUD.  She was yelling songs and sticking stuffed animals in their faces to try and get them all to look at her and smile.  They were all looking for the picture but none of them are smiling.  Oh well.  We wanted a picture of all 4 of them together and are happy with that.  I might see if I can get a few shots of all of them the next time we are all together though. 

I'm off work again until the 29th!  This keying cycle was the shortest one ever at only 6 days.  Make for a couple of crappy paychecks coming up on the 10th and 25th.  Anyway, I'm going to use the time to pack although Tessa tries to help too much and I can only do a few boxes at a time.

4/20/2002-  Lots of updating to do again.  On the 9th Tessa and I had lunch with Cyndi.  I love being able to see her more often now that her office is in Olympia.  Once we move Tessa and I will have to drive a bit further to see her but that's okay.   The day after that we headed out to Mia's house for playgroup.  I love going there because she has a lot of room for the kids to play and all us parents to kick back and relax.  Soon we'll be able to host more with more room in the house.  Everyone is coming over here tomorrow and it gets kind of squishy in our little living room.

Last Saturday I took Tessa up to Kent to see Grandma and Grandpa.  Brian had to work so we got out of the house for awhile.   It was a rainy day so it wasn't the nicest drive in the world but we had fun visiting and having lunch.  On the 15th we went to Centralia for the house inspection.  We don't have the report yet but from what the guy said it sounded like everything looked fine to him and he just needed to put together all the paperwork.   Our moving date has been pushed back to the 15th of June though.  Ruby decided to wait for the apartment she really wants and it is not available for her to move into until June 8th.  We were hoping we wouldn't have to pay rent for June and have a month without a rent payment or a house payment.  Oh well.  Only 56 days left until moving day!

This past Wednesday playgroup was out at Tia's house.  We didn't get to see Macy at all though because when she arrived home just in time for playgroup, Macy was asleep and slept the whole two hours we were there.  On Thursday I picked up Erin and Anna and we drove out to Mia's house where we met up with Mia and Ashley.  The six of us went down to Centralia to the Carter's outlet store.   I needed to get some new pajamas for Tessa.  If we are going to start potty training once we are in the house we need pajamas that are more accessible than her one piece, button down the front ones she wears now.  I also found a couple of summery outfits for her.  On the way out of town we stopped by Casey's house.  Casey used to be Mia's boss when he still worked for the state and they haven't seen each other in a long time.  He hasn't even met Ashley yet.  We knocked on the door and I even tried to call but there was no answer.  I e-mailed him when I got home and he was in the shower.  If we had stuck around for just a few more minutes he would have been out and answered the door.  That's okay.  Once we're neighbors he and Mia can visit when she is down for playgroup.

Tessa is doing great.  I noticed today that both of her eye teeth on the bottom have broken through.  That's teeth #13 and #14 now.  Even though she has all those teeth she still tends to try and swallow stuff whole.  She was eating some dry beans at Tia's house that she has out for Macy to play with.  Most of them came out looking just like they did when they went in.   She still loves green beans but all of a sudden she won't eat string cheese anymore.  She wants it to play with but won't eat it.  I suppose if I had someone handing me string cheese every day I'd get tired of eating it too.  I think she is taking herself off the bottle.  She just isn't very interested in it anymore.   She actually drank a bit of milk out of a sippy cup the other day.

Her vocabulary is ever expanding.  Her new words lately are "wow", "waffle", "toga" (don't ask), "Mommy" (instead of ma-ma), "moo" (anything resembling a cow gets a hearty "moo"), "night-night", and various words that you kind of have to speak Tessa-ese to understand. :)  But the bottom line is she tries to repeat EVERYTHING we say so I have to watch myself sometimes.

Did I ever mention how her sleeping is going?   I can't remember.  Anyway, I guess it's been about a month now that putting her to bed, at night and for naps, is a breeze.  One day I was lying there on the extra bed waiting for her to go to sleep and thinking about all the stuff I needed to get done.  I decided to just get up and walk out.  She fussed for about two minutes and then went to sleep.  Now we ask her, "Are you ready to go night-night?"   She finds her stuffed lion and goes to her bedroom door.  We change her diaper, lay her in bed, cover her up and walk out the door.  Some nights she'll rustle around and switch positions a few times before going to sleep but there isn't any fussing or crying at all.  It's wonderful!     

4/30/2002-  Where does the time go?  I could have sworn I just did an update and then I look and it's been ten days again.  Just keeping busy I guess.  Thank goodness I keep the calendar in her room up to date so I can look back and remember what I need to write about.  The weather the past couple of days has been just beautiful.  I'm wearing shorts for the first time this year.  Yikes!  Don't look directly at my legs.  Their paleness could be blinding.  I need to get out in the sun.   That will be so much easier in 46 days when we have our own yard. :)

Anyway,  backing up a bit as usual, Natalie came down to visit for a few hours last Monday, on Tuesday we had lunch with Cyndi, Wednesday was playgroup here at our place and then Thursday we went to the Tumwater Historical Park with the rest of the gang.  It was a full week.  Saturday I got a break when all of the Moms left the kids at home and we went out for Chinese food and then ice cream.  We all could have used several more hours away but it was nice to get out for a little bit anyway.  We ended up all talking about our kids though.   You never stop being a Mommy.

I headed back to work yesterday.  The next paycheck will be for a whopping two days. :(  I need to transfer some money from savings so we can pay all the bills.  May is usually a busy month though so hopefully I can rack up quite a few hours between the 1st and the 15th.  One of the ladies I work with retired today.  Lucky lady.  I came home and grabbed Tessa and headed over to the restaurant for her retirement party.  I put Tessa in her Easter dress so she could get some more use out of it.  She was pretty good and spent most of her time sitting with Lynn.

Tessa is getting very good at using the words "No" and "Mine".  Usually when she is saying no it is because she is pointing out something she knows she is not supposed to touch.  Today was the first time she used it to tell me she wasn't going to do something.  So much for my sweet little angel.  Suddenly she has a mind of her own. :)    

5/11/2002-  Tessa turns a year and a half today.  Time flies when you're having fun. :)  She's learned to climb up on furniture now so using the ottoman as a blockade to keep her out of the kitchen is no longer an option.  She loves to rock in her rocking chair especially if Brian is rocking next to her in the rocker.  What a little ham.

It's been a pretty stressful couple of weeks.   My supervisor announced she would be taking a position in another section so suddenly my good friend is moving on and we have a new supervisor who none of us like.   Yesterday we had Suzi's going away lunch and I did fine up until the end when I went to give her a hug.  I had already cried earlier in the day and there I went again.  It's just not going to be the same without her around.  Next spring when our division all moves into one building we'll all be back together again but that's almost a year away.

We got the appraisal back on the house and found out there was some painting that needed to be done.  The south side of the garage gets all the weather and a lot of the paint up on the gable has worn away.  Same thing on the garage doors.  Well, these places had to be washed and scraped and repainted with at least two coats of paint and then reinspected and signed off on before we can close on the 23rd.  We've been having some really terrible weather lately and were worried it wasn't going to get painted because of the rain.  Ruby just hired someone who can come over and do it even if we are all at work.  It is a beautiful day right now so I'm hoping it's being painted right this minute.

I just got home from the store a little while ago to find our apartment manager here.  On the last day of April we got a notice that our rent was being increased again.  It was now going to be $680.  We had already planned on giving our notice when we turned in our rent for May but we decided we were going to be out by 6pm on June 15th so we would only have to pay $340 for June rent.   She said we need to pay the entire amount and then after the walk through they will keep whatever is necessary for repairs and such and mail us whatever is leftover.   Right.  We had this same problem when we moved down here from Bellingham.   We never got a dime back.  We gave our current managers a $250 deposit when we moved in ($50 non-refundable for carpet cleaning) so we should get back $540 but I'm not counting on it.  With all the fees we're going to have getting cable and phone and internet and such all set up at the house we really could use it.

Anyway, let's get back to other stuff that's been going on.  I'm done venting for now.  Last Saturday Tessa and I drove up to Kent to meet some friends for lunch.  Even before getting in the door I had quite a surprise.  Coming out to their car were my friends Dave and his wife Darla.  I met Dave in college and although we don't see each other much we try to stay in touch.   They hadn't met Tessa yet so at least they got to see her for the few minutes we had to talk.

Tessa and I had a very nice lunch with my friend Ivy and her 6 month old daughter, Sarah and with our friend Colleen, her husband and their two children, 5 year old Keely and 3 year old Sean.  Ivy and her husband currently live in Texas but they might be moving back up here soon.  I guess housing is much cheaper down there so that is a big obstacle to their moving.

On Sunday my parents stopped by to visit on their way home from a camping trip.  Tessa gave kisses, sat on Grandma's lap and was an all around little charmer.   Monday was Brian's 43rd Birthday.  We didn't really do anything special.  Neither of us felt very good.  I bought him Star Wars: Episode 1 today when I was out and I guess that's his belated birthday present since I really didn't like the movie. :)  Wednesday's playgroup was at Erin's place.   It was just Tessa, Ashley and Anna this time.  It was funny at one point because Tessa was hitting toys and when I told her "no" she burst into tears and wanted Mia to hold her.  She wasn't happy with me, that's for sure!             

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