What did we do?

With our daughter in capable and loving hands Joe and I head out to a night spent in German Village. We enjoyed some delicious food at Schmidt's

Then we went to Shakespeare in park and saw the first half of Much Ado About Nothing. We only saw the first half because the best thing about the first half was the chocolate cream puff Joe and I fought over (it was SO good). The play was fine, but boy Shakespeare sure did like to drag things out. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to follow the story, since I hadn't read that play before. Well, all my fret was for nothing...the plot was easy to follow due to the fact that it took 30 minutes to set up a plot point that could have been set up in five...needless to say, we knew how the play was going to end, and we didn't want to sit around for an hour just to see it happen. So instead we went home, and watched a couple of episodes of Big Love on DVD. I would definitely reccommend this show to anyone looking for some good HBO smut to watch.

All in all, a great date night.

What should we do?

My mom offered to come over and babysit for us tomorrow evening. I think this is really more of a self serving offer for her because she loves spending time with Harper. Who can blame her really...why wouldn't you want to hang out with this.

Here's the problem...what should we do? Back in the old days, there was no question...go to the bar, get drunk, pass out and sleep till noon. These days, it isn't as much fun getting drunk when you know there's a high likelihood you'll be waking up at 3 to put a pacifier back into a crying mouth and 5 to feed said crying mouth. So we need suggestions of fun ways to hang out and enjoy some couple time. We'd go to jazz and ribs fest, but it's so f-ing hot, the last thing I want to do is eat ribs in the sunshine.

Give me some ideas, folks!

Happy Anniversary...

to us! Yesterday was our anniversary. We've been married 4 years...and it has been great. Here is a photography highlight of our 4 years.

July 15, 2006 - We become Mr. and Mrs.

July, 2006 - Honeymoon in Hawaii

February, 2007 - We buy our first house

July, 2007 - Kittens join the family

July, 2007 - One year Anniversary in Florida

April, 2008 - We buy our first Brand New Car

July 2009 - Trip to Europe

April 20, 2010 - Harper is born

It's been a fantastic 4 years.

Mirror Mirror on the wall

My lovely friends threw me a super fun baby shower at one of those paint your own pottery places. I was glad when I was reassured that I wouldn't be getting 15 piggy banks, but I had no idea what was in store for me. I was pleasantly surprised with a fantastic idea. They ladies ordered me a tiled mirror, and each guest got to paint a tile in a way they chose. It was so much fun! Everyone had a blast painting tiles just for my little baby.

The hostesses even picked out paints that would match the nursery. We held two tiles aside until we knew the birth date and gender (since those were both going to be surprises) and Joe and I went back after Harper was born to finish the last two tiles. We did her name and birthdate, along with her footprints. Here was the final product...

It is so adorable. Now I need to find the perfect place to hang it in the nursery. Harper is going to love checking herself out in this beautiful gift.

What a difference a week makes

The Bumbo Chair is a fabulous little invention that helps your little ones strengthen the muscles they need to sit up all on their own. Since Harper usually prefers sitting or laying on her own to being held, I can see this as my next life saver once Harper out grows her bouncy seat. Here is Harper in her Bumbo last week.

And here she is today.

I am completely amazed at how strong she's getting.

So this is what it feels like to gt screwed.

Anyone who knows me knows I like to plan things...waaaaay in advance. I get a crazy high from making sure everything goes right and I'm the narcissistic type who likes to get the credit for something that goes fabulously. Most of all, I'm a practical realist who knows that waiting till the last minute only causes unnecessary stress.

So when we found out I was pregnant last August, looking at daycare was number one on my priority list. I didn't want to get stuck sending my baby to some substandard location with a bunch of snotty brats. I wanted somewhere that would encourage her to learn about all kinds of different things. I also wanted somewhere convenient to home since hubs and I work on opposite sides of town. Weren't we lucky that they had just opened a brand new daycare two blocks from our house, sponsored by Batelle (a science lab, research facility near OSU) Well Joe and I put our money down in a heartbeat and reserved our space. Now keep in mind, we gave them our check in September of 2009 with the understanding that our baby would be whisked into their care in August of 2010. For those who have trouble with the math, that's 11 months difference.

Flash forward to last Friday. Harper and I are out for a walk so we pop into the daycare to let them know when she will be joining their ranks. They tell us there has been no movement on the waiting list and they aren't going to have an open spot. What!? In 11 months, there's so movement out of a room that only has kids up to 18 months old. How is that possible?

Come to find out we're on a separate list...there are two...one for Batelle employees and one for everyone else. The Batelle list gets priority. This makes sense to me, but no one mentioned that to us when we signed up. So here we are...a month before I go back to work, and we have no one to take care of our precious baby girl. Needless to say, it's been a stressful couple of days.

If you know any good daycare centers with open spots, please let me know!

Gilad just kicked my a$$

In effort to get my pre-pregnancy body back, I DVR'd a bunch of fitness/workout shows on FitTv. One was Gilad's total body sculpt. I had no idea how out of shape my abs are post-baby. It looks like I will be doing this video each day just to get back into shape. Thank you Gilad for waking me up to my weakness and helping me to overcome.