Yeah, believe it. She's THAT cute.

Nothing New...

Though I know Tory would never go for it, I've always thought it'd be incredible to name a little boy SEVEN. Seven Schwope. I think it's got a great ring to it.

I was just watching Seinfeld (catching up on the last 20 years of great tv that I missed), and George Costanza wanted to name his child Seven! What?!? So much for original thought. I thought I was a genius.

Same thing happened to me about 3 months ago when I heard on npr that a musician titled his album The Shaming of the True. Which, ask my sister Em, was my idea like 5 years ago.

I swear, I'm being spied on.

Get a Grip!

Look what we can do now!

I've given you pretty much only happy pictures of Hazel so far. Thought I'd round out your view of her a bit... She's just the Second-Happiest Baby on the Block.

Me

The blog lately has been pretty much 100% Hazel. And it got me wondering whether I'll end up one of those moms who loses her identity because she's so wrapped up in her child's. I'm not sure...at this point I think it could go either way; I think more & more that it's just hard to predict how I will react to situations I've never been in before. Especially mom situations.

But I'm trying to stay away from mom topics in this blog entry...

So . . . um. ...yeah... It's pretty hard to switch gears & not talk about ANY mom things. But I'll try.

I have an Old Navy card. For those of you in the family, you know that this card is good at Gap, ON, Banana Republic, and Piper Lime. For every $100 I spend, I receive a $10 gift card in the mail. I also receive lots of great coupons. I have discovered something wonderful recently. I found out that I can redeem these online AND at the store. It's a flaw in the system! Super sneaky!!!

- - -

I'd like to come out to the world now; I'm tired of living a lie. I am NOT a good housekeeper. And if you have an idea in your mind of what a bad housekeeper is, think of a worse one and that's probably more like me. In my opinion, the majority of my friends have immaculate homes. I would eat off their floors. (Well, really, I would eat off my own floor, but that's just because my threshold for grossness is higher than most -- thus, my bad housekeeping.) I try to pretend by picking up before people get here, but I know the really good housekeepers can see through it.

I realize that it's all relative. There are some out there that would consider me a good housekeeper. And in my own defense, 90% of the mess and grime is not my own. My husband is dirty & hairy. I should call him Dirty Harry. The dogs are also dirty & hairy. The cat has on his winter coat and leaves the evidence wherever he wants. And then there is the house itself, which is my nemesis.

The house is bad because it is old, and because there isn't a person who takes responsibility for its annual maintenance. (There's only so much I can do...) So there are holes from old age, and holes from woodpeckers -- invitations for squatters galore. Some previously loathed visitors include mice, chipmunks, squirrels & raccoons -- yes, all in my home. And now that it's cold I wonder if they'll be back.

But by far my least favorite are the Camel Crickets. Also known as Cellar Crickets, they love the humidity of basements and have formed a colony in our crawl space, which is adjacent to our basement in this split-level home. These boogers are creepy. They look more like grasshoppers, and they can jump as high as your head. Makes them really hard to kill. The creepiest thing about them is that they are always, always facing you. You never see one from the side or the back, you only ever see them from the front. When I do have the luck of getting one with the broom, the pleasure is almost... well, I'll keep this g-rated. It's quite a release because I have such a deep hatred for them.

The switch for our kitchen light has been out since we brought Hazel home from the hospital. I wish it would get fixed.

All of this & more gets under my skin & goes to my core. I wish I had a sweet maid named Mary or Bess or Helga that would just love on me and help me keep things neat. Even though tidyness is not the most important thing in the world to me, it would be quite a luxury. Helga is my Christmas wish to Santa. It would be so wonderful, so dreamy. But I suppose for now, my dust-free clutter-free bug-free home will have to stay in fictionland with Helga and Santa. Back to reality & my baby who just woke up...

The FIRst Tree

It was wonderful -- We went & got a Christmas tree yesterday! I still have yet to find an extra minute to decorate it, but the experience was priceless.

Thanksgiving with the Tummons Family

This is, as dear-ol-dad would say, "The Whole Fam-Damily"
Suz, Solomon, Emily, & Hazel

Great Aunt Pat & Hazel

Me & Hazel, the way we spend 25% of our lives right now

In the dress her Gramma Jane got her

Daddy & Hazel (check out the boots!)

Hazel Jane with her turkey-tee

One Month Old!

Here are a few pics taken on Hazel's one month birthday (Nov. 17th).

If you've never met my husband, here's a spot-on likeness (above). She looks like him quite a bit with her face relaxed, but when she starts yawning or grimacing you'd better watch out -- the likeness gets pretty freaky. Although, I will say that she is looking more & more like my baby pictures.

The first month flew by. I remember my newly-momed sister saying a few months ago, "the days are long, but the years are short" and I can certainly see after just a month how true that statement may become. Seems like just yesterday she was in my belly, though it seemed like she was in there for years.

She's grown from 7lbs 2oz to 9lbs 8oz, which is still smaller than the 9lbs 12oz I was when I was born. People still stop me and comment on how small she is, but she seems huge to me now. I've already had to put some outfits away because she's outgrown them. She's a wiry little booger and moves when gusto when she wants to. Her neck is pretty strong already.

The first month included her first real smile, sucking her thumb, her first trip out of town, her first cold, and many other firsts. My favorite sound she makes is when she inhales like she's going to sneeze, but then doesn't, and exhales with the sweetest little sigh-song you've ever heard. Most of the time when she smiles, she only does a coy half-smile bit, but every once in awhile her whole face will explode into a huge grin.

I've heard some babies aren't much on cuddling, but this one is a die-hard cuddle bug. She loves to be close & warm. Baths are getting more & more efficient, and as long as I keep her from getting cold she's happy. Loves it best when I get the shower head going really warm & just make it rain on her. We're getting into somewhat of a routine, but it's easily derailed by errands or bouts of serious gas.

She's started "playing" more -- looking at toys or her mobile. She's becoming a pro at tummy-time & sitting up in her bumbo chair. She loves to just look around at things, so we walk through the house & look, and I wear her when I cook dinner so she can watch. There is a mirror right by her changing pad, and she loves to look at herself when I change her. It's taken me a few weeks to even start figuring out her different cries, but I think I've started understanding them more.

I feel like I should have gone to school for this -- like every mom should have to go through a course before conceiving. Seems like there is so much to know, and a lot of times I feel very underqualified about the technical stuff. But I do know one thing -- I love her the most & she loves me the most. And that's a wonderful, wonderful feeling.

Online at last

.....aaaaand, I'm back.

Sorry for any of you viewers who were actually looking for some blurbs from me or some pics of Hazel -- we've been without internet for a few weeks now. But Tory just brought home a Verizon card to replace our Sprint one, so hopefully we'll be better than ever now!

More to come soon....

New Toys!

It appears that vision has progressed from a mere 8-12" to a bit more. I had been noticing how Hazel was starting to get the hang of tracking things, and she had started keeping her eyes open for longer periods at a time. And then I realized -- I didn't really have anything for her to look at! I had one toy, a mirror with stripes & patterns around it, that she loved, but that was pretty much it. I had pretty much maxed out on every baby-stuff category, except for toys.

So off we headed to Babies 'R Us with a great giftcard from one of Tory's drivers, Dwight. (Thank you Dwight!)

First on the list was a mobile. Not one of those ones that adults like, or one that matches the room -- an obnoxious looking one that she will really enjoy. We also got 4 other small toys, that's not too many, right? My favorite is a handpuppet that has a different farm animal on every finger. It's to use as a prop while singing Old MacDonald Had a Farm. I think that is going to be super fun, but I'm just cheesy like that. Hopefully Hazel got my cheesy gene & we can enjoy that stuff together.

Pretty Small Girl on a Pretty Fall Day

note the cute smile, killer curls, and ... middle finger