Time to make little changes

I decided to play with the look of this. Like?

I really can't believe it's already December. I'm so excited about seeing Jasmine on Christmas day, with all the sights, sounds and smells she'll be experiencing. It's fun to see things as though from the first time, since I was too young to remember them when they really were my first time!

Reunion

My 10-year high school reunion was Saturday night. My friend's baby shower was shortly before it, and much more fun.
All of my closest friends and their husbands were there, and it was great to catch up with them. This is the first time all 10 of us (and Jasmine!) were together, which was really cool.

Things haven't changed. A couple years ago, I ran into someone from high school that I knew but wasn't terribly good friends with. We had a great conversation. It made me think maybe the reunion would rekindle friendships that hadn't really gotten terribly close. Nope. All the old cliques were reunited, and that was it! Those of us who didn't fit in then, didn't now, either.
But the good thing: it doesn't matter anymore. I have a husband that loves me, a baby who thinks the world revolves around me, and friends and family who really care. So what does it matter if the snobby girls from my high school still don't understand? Does it matter? Not a bit!!

Comment away!

I made it so you don't have to register in order to comment. You have to answer one of those weird picture-number-letter things (you'll see what I mean if/when you decide to write) in order to prevent spamming.

So don't spam, but please (please) feel free to write to us! We love it when people stop by!
(can I possibly sound any more pathetic??)

Costumes

We had so much fun yesterday, putting Jasmine in a cute, fuzzy Tigger costume. Josh and I decided to dress up too, so he was a cowboy and I was an 80s chick. It was fun to come up with costumes, but the highlight was definitely watching our little Tigger crawl around the room.

She is getting much more comfortable pulling herself up to standing. She doesn't wobble when she's there, and when she falls, usually a decision and not an accident, she gently lands on her seat...no more falling on her head! (good thing; I don't want her to get all beat up!) She's also getting better at using any surface at all to climb on, including me.

And she's awake and ready to eat.

Jasmine's First Real Photo Shoot

As if Josh and I haven't taken her picture often enough, last night we took her to Sears to get her pictures taken professionally. We had a gift certificate from his aunt, and since she can sit up now we figured it would be easier to get good pictures of her. We didn't buy many (though we may go back tonight and get one more) but she was wonderful...just didn't smile too much. So here's what I think went through her head during the shoot:

Mommy put me in a beautiful dress, one with lots to chew on.
We drove to the mall and a lady kept telling me I was beautiful. Of course!
Then she wanted me to sit on the floor, on a big sheet. Mommy was nearby, and Daddy was watching.
Every time I tried to get up and crawl away to see all the cool things in the room, Mommy pulled me back to the same place. I can't touch anything there!
Then, they put me on my hands and knees. Finally, I could explore. But I think what they really want me to do is to sit up, so that's what I'll do. What? Back on my hands and knees? No, I think you want me to sit.
Then they brought out these fuzzy things and kept touching my face with them. I don't know what they were but they didn't smell like my toys. Daddy tried to play with them with me, but I don't know. They just didn't look very friendly.
And the lady kept putting a toy near me but not letting me have it. I think that's why I didn't trust the fuzzy balls.

We finished, and we got to see a bunch of nice pictures...one with a sweet, natural smile, but the rest with "almost" smiles. Guess it's a good thing we bought a good camera!

Yankees Musings

I found a bunch of blogs on mlb.com. Of course, I only read Yankees ones...why bother reading anything else?? It made me think about how I started paying attention to the team in Pinstripes, and why I'm so excited to get Jasmine into them from the start.

Back in the mid-90s, when we didn't have cable, Mom and I would watch the postseason together. The first year we watched Seattle (Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey, Jr., Joey Cora...) because that's where she's originally from and that was as much reason as we needed.
During the winter, as usually happens, they got rid of most of the players we recognized. I don't remember if we watched them the next year...I remember rooting for the Indians one year because we liked Orel (I'm not even going to try to spell his last name)
Then one year, when I was in college, we started watching the Yankees play. (96, maybe?) There was something different about them. They were a real team. They were good sports, and great players, and very united.
When we got cable (again) we discovered we could watch many more games during the year, and stayed with the Yankees.
Mom watched more games than I did, and if I was at home but not watching with her, she'd call for me every time Jeter came up to bat: "Derek Jeter is up to bat, and he's still single!" Each and every time. Before I knew it, I was watching with her, and we'd both cheer on the whole team, not just Jeter.
We went to our first game in spring of 2002, in Toronto's Skydome. Roger Clemens pitched, I was sick with strep (didn't know that's why I was feeling so horrible until the next day...I hope I didn't give it to anyone else!) and we lost miserably. But it was still an amazing feeling, realizing that these players we had seen on TV were there, in front of us, and those foul balls could actually hurt!
We went back the next spring, and this time we won, I was healthy, and we had a blast.


That summer, I met Josh and got married
and we went to New York for our honeymoon. (we got married that weekend so we could be in NY for the game against the Red Sox!!) Our first game together, in the back row of Yankee Stadium (no, he wasn't being cheap, it's that hard to get tickets to those games!), watching the biggest rivalry in baseball. Thankfully we won! What an amazing game :-)

Now, without cable once again, we listened to many of the games this season. Much of the year was heartbreaking, though there were wonderful things too. Jeter's first grandslam, Giambi's amazing comeback, Robinon Cano and Wang's amazing rookie years...just beautiful.

Next spring we'll join my parents once again for the annual trip to Toronto, this time bringing Jasmine with us. It's never too early to teach her about the wonderful Yankees!

More updates

I updated the front page, and also the "Our Story" page.
Improvement?
I'm thinking of expanding this blog to actually be about other stuff, rather than just "I updated a page." Maybe then people will write...and if not, maybe they're not reading, in which case I can write anything I want to :-)

Lots of changes

So...do you like what I've done to the website? I still haven't changed the first page, but that will hopefully happen soon. Unfortunately, Jasmine woke up from her nap, so I can't do much more right now, but let me know what you think!

Don't have time for pictures, but have a second to write!

I walked into Jasmine's room two days ago (Wednesday, two days after 5 months) and saw her standing, in her crib. Yesterday she did it again, and actually let go of the rail with one hand so I could pick her up. I got pictures of it today, and will try to post them soon.

This little girl really wants her mobility...crawling, apparently, isn't sufficient.
Then again, she's enjoyed standing up on our laps since she was a few days old...I think she tried it when I was still in the hospital, but maybe not.

So how long do you think it will be before she's standing unassisted?
Walking?
Running?
Dancing?

5 Months!

She's 5 months old today! I can't believe how fast it's gone!

We're all three fighting little head colds, so none of us is in the best of moods...but it's still fun to watch her learn and grow! :-)

Keeping the trend going

I added a few more pictures!

We've been having some issues with spam replies to this blog, so we changed a couple settings last night. If it seems to work, maybe we can take away the requirement to sign up in order to respond. Would people write to us then? You can email either of us and tell us what you think.

Jasmine is very nearly crawling. Any time! She figured out how to lift her hands, so now it's just a matter of figuring out what to move, when. She's amazing! And it's scary, realizing she's not quite 5 months old and doing all this!!

Don't get too used to this!

Well, I'm updating the website again. I wish I could say this was the start of a good habit, but I really can't promise that.
So enjoy the new pictures of our Princess Punkin Head!

She got her second tooth, by the way. Came in Thursday. She's been much happier since then, and has even given me a couple really good nights of sleep! Yay for sleep!

Long-overdue update

I am very sorry it's taken so long to update our website. We've had a busy month, and things don't seem too likely to calm down anytime in the near future.

We moved in late August, and are feeling mostly moved in now, though there are still some boxes and bins waiting for a home. We are so blessed to have this house...for anyone who reads this and doesn't know, we're housesitting for a woman who is spending a year studying, so all we have to pay is utilities. The utilities cost more than our previous house's rent, but it's cheaper than rent and utilities! It's a beautiful, huge old farmhouse a bit further south of where we used to live, on a large piece of land (95 acres, almost all of it is woods). It's up on a large hill, and when it's clear we can see Buffalo and sometimes even the Falls!

Jasmine not only rolls all around the room, but she's started getting up on her hands and knees. She is starting to move her legs, but hasn't figured out how to move her hands, so she's not quite crawling yet, but I doubt that it will be long. She got her first tooth in on Friday, and the second looks like it's on its way as well.

Jasmine Update!

In case you haven't checked lately, and for some reason read the blog first, we put new pictures up last week (8/6) She's getting so big, so full of smiles, and so much fun to watch!

Looks like she may be teething...poor sweety has swollen gums and gnaws on anything she can get her hands or mouth on. I hope it/they come in quickly so she isn't hurting like this much longer!

Feel free to post...we like company!!

A Day in the Life of Buffy

Circa 2002 Charlene wrote this short story trying to explain why the Goodberry family dog, Buffy, barks his fool head off (in case there's a reason!). She is curious to know if it makes sense to anyone who doesn't know her family, and/or hasn't met Buffy. Enjoy, and please comment!

Hi there! Welcome to our blog.

We felt impelled to add an interactive element to our site, and this is it. All the cool kids have blogs, and we do whatever they do. (We're still on the fence about the whole jumping off a bridge thing.)

Please feel free to add your comments. That's the point.