When I lived in Ocean City, it was rare for me to go anywhere and not see someone I knew. Even on a crowded beach at peak summer, I usually saw a familiar face. It was definitely something I took for granted while I lived there. And it's what made Ocean City "home" for me.

One of the hardest things to adjust to when I moved was the isolation I felt. Everything was brand new and I had no network of friends. Everywhere I went, all the face were of strangers. It's kept me from feeling like I "belong".

But I think things are changing. We went to dinner last night in Westminster and ran into a friend and coworker of Jimmy's. It was so random and unexpected as she lives close to us in Hampstead. And then after dinner, we went to Target and ran into one of the mothers from our Lamaze class. It's nice to have that feeling back, to be somewhere random and run into someone you know. Happiness!

Today I'm hosting the Lamaze class play date at my house. I have baby pools and toys set up in the back yard. Hopefully there's a good turn out. And then once they leave, I will collapse!

And now to fix myself some lunch before the baby wakes up from her nap!

I was a party pooper this weekend. Wasn't feeling well yesterday and was in bed, so we didn't go see fireworks. I'm sad as I love fireworks. Ah well. Today Jimmy took Naomi to his parents for Family dinner and I stayed home to rest and recover. Actually feeling much better now.

Hope everyone else is having a good holiday weekend!

We had a play date today with the families from our Lamaze class. This is the third week of having them, but the first we've been able to attend- the first week rained and I didn't make it and then last week we were at the beach. We had 6 babies today and it's so awesome to see how much they're growing and learning! We went to a park in Westminster, had a picnic lunch, and let the babies crawl around and play. Nxt Wednesday I'm going to host the play date here at my house which should be a lot of fun. I'm so happy that our class has kept in touch and that we're able to get the kids together.

Still getting beach photos together. Waiting on a batch from my mom before I post them.

We are home from an awesome vacation. It was relaxing and low key. Naomi spent a couple of days not feeling 100% and that kept us indoors a little, but we didn't mind having the excuse to stay in and relax.

We're mostly unpacked and settled back into our house. It's always weird the first day home, getting used to being back in our house.

Will do a more thorough vacation post later and will post some pics sometime soon.

Hope everyone's been well this week.

Jimmy's niece is in the hospital in labor, close to delivering according to the last update I heard. I'm going to be a great aunt very soon. Aren't I too young for that? I hope the baby girl comes into the world safe and healthy.

We're pretty much packed for the trip. Only last minute toiletry items remain. Bilbo's freaking out because there's a pile of packed crap in the living room. We're not taking him with us, but Jimmy's brother is staying here all week to house and dog sit. Bilbo and my BIL are chums and so Bilbo's probably going to have a better week with us gone (no baby chasing him around).

Sunday is Father's Day, Jimmy's first as a dad. I'm glad we'll be at the beach where he can relax.

I'm sure one of us will be taking a laptop with us, but I'm hoping I don't pop online. So I'll catch up with everyone in a week! Have a good one!

Thanks for the comments about the nap thing. I've been considering working with Naomi on skipping the morning nap and taking a good afternoon nap. But not until we get back from the beach. Selfishly, I don't want to have to sit in the condo with the baby all afternoon. :) It's just hard thinking about giving up the one nap she doesn't fight over. But I think if we can switch her schedule, it'll be better for all of us.

I need to get packing. I've made lists. Lots of lists. But nothing's been started. I did manage to clean out the fridge, not only tossing out all the out dated stuff, but removing shelves to scrub them clean. I don't know why I'm worried about my brother-in-law seeing dirty fridge shelves. I'll do some laundry when Naomi takes a nap and start getting some stuff organized.

Naomi's second tooth finally popped through last night. I've been watching it work it's way up the past few days. I'm still thankful her teething drama is generally nil. (She's been sleeping through the night through this one, which is great.)

Hope everyone has a great day!

I'm getting rather frustrated with Naomi's fight with the afternoon nap. It's exhausting and I'm so over it. I wish they made some magic baby sleeping pill! I'm not trying to force the afternoon nap "just because". Naomi really needs that second nap. The morning nap, she goes down fine with no fuss. But come afternoon, she's determined not to take one. She's definitely tired. And fussy and cranky. And yawning. And rubbing her face and eyes with her hands. She slows down. She loses focus. Everything about her screams NAPTIME. And then I'll hold her, and her eyelids get heavy and drift close and then BAM! They shoot open and she sits up and fights to stay awake. Putting her in the crib or pack-n-play to cry it out doesn't work either as she screams her head off for 15-20 minutes straight. Some days I don't feel like fighting it and let her stay up. Then she's falling asleep in her high chair at dinner. And she doesn't sleep as well at night. The afternoons I manage to get her down for a nap... everything for the rest of the day is awesome. Ugh!

Last night we had crabs with the neighbors. They were really good and a fairly good price. We ate ourselves silly and had some really good and funny conversations. Fun night!

Today we were supposed to have a play date with the families from our Lamaze class, but it's raining with bigger storms headed this way, so it looks like we're canceling. I'm a little disappointed and hope we can all reschedule for when I'm back from the beach.

Speaking of beach... I really need to start thinking about packing!

We had a very nice weekend!

Friday night's jewelry party went very well. Despite only having 3 guests, it actually worked out nicely since it was Kai's first ever show and so she wasn't as nervous or intimidated. It was fun and we laughed, and everyone bought a little something. I'm happy with how it went.

Saturday we went to the LPGA tournament at Bulle Rock in Havre de Grace. Jimmy had free tickets and I couldn't understand why he wasn't all excited about the idea of going and taking Naomi. But I was all excited about the opportunity and pressed him, so off we went. It didn't hit me until we got there and walked up to a hole... you have to be absolutely silent and still during every golf shot, and Naomi's way too young to read the "QUIET" signs being held. Suddenly, I panicked. I imagined us being shown live on the Golf Channel being escorted off the premises for a disruptive child. But Naomi was AWESOME all day long! She was quiet and chill all day and everyone was enchanted with her, spending more time watching her than the golfers.

We followed Lorena Ochoa for most of the afternoon. She was playing pretty cruddy, but I really like her, so it was good to watch her anyway. And then suddenly a huge storm passed over and the siren sounded and they suspended play. We got soaked in the rain and decided not to wait for play to restart but head on out instead, which was a good decision since it was close to Naomi's dinner time. We found a Chili's in White Marsh, had an awesome dinner, then came home. Great family day!

Yesterday was the normal family dinner at the in-laws. Not too crowded which was nice!

This week we have a play date with the families from my Childbirth Ed classes and I'll otherwise be getting us prepped and packed for the beach!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

With each passing day, I appreciate my neighbors more and more! I like just about all of my neighbors, but my next door neighbors with the little boy... they rock! Our husbands went golfing last night while we women-folk and the kids hung out at my place grilling burgers and playing with toy cars. The more we hang out, the more we find we have in common. It's just easy and fun to spend time with her and our kids are great together.

Tonight is the "jewelry party". I have 3 guests coming. Ah well. I'm forbidding myself to feel bad about it.

Jimmy got free tickets to the LPGA tournament this weekend at Bulle Rock in Havre De Grace. I think we may go check it out tomorrow. Would be very cool. Even though I'm not a huge LPGA fan, I do recognize a fair amount of the ladies' names and would enjoy being outside on a nice day, walking the course.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Last night, Jimmy and I had a date night. Our friend Denise came and watched Naomi while we went out to dinner. There's an Irish pub in Westminster we've been aching to try and finally went to check it out. The atmosphere was awesome, quaint and cozy. The found was astounding: jumbo shrimp in a garlic cream sauce in a bread bowl as an appetizer, Jimmy had a filet and crab cake, I had rockfish with jumbo lump crab meat. We flirted all through dinner, it was like when we were dating in OC. Much needed night out to reconnect as it was way overdue!

Naomi was awesome for Denise. And I don't know what Denise did, but Naomi slept in till 8am this morning! WOOT!

Miserable looking day today with drizzle on and off and thunderstorms expected sometime. But the weekend's supposed to be beautiful!

Quick update to say I survived the "minor" surgery, though it was more extensive than anticipated and so I'm in more pain than anticipated (have a call in to the doc to discuss this). Am bedridden to deal with the pain, so online time pretty much nil. Will give proper updates as soon as I can.

But want to note, Naomi cut her first tooth on Tuesday...

This is the first I've been online since I last posted on Thursday. What an incredibly busy but wonderful weekend. I posted a few entries that I've backdated because I didn't want to make this one long post. The short of it is that we had a nice visit with Becky and Naomi's baptism was perfect!

Yesterday morning I had my doctor appt with the "back end" specialist and he was so kind and gentle. I broke down crying in the office because he was so nice, knew what he was doing, and validated my pain and my apprehensions that have kept me dealing with the pain for so long. After his examination, he asked me if I'd like a 3 minute surgery that would take care of the pain instantly. I said sign me up!! He said because he knows the pain I'm going through, he's not waiting and insisted on fitting me in this week. So tomorrow morning I go in for surgery.

I have a fissure, which is apparently making a muscle along the walls spasm which is excruciatingly painful. He says he can just snip the muscle to keep it from spasming and all will be well. He was so wonderful and I'm not feeling anxious about the surgery. (I'm sure I will in the morning.) All these months and now the prospect of having it finally taken care of!! YAY!

So I may not be online much over the next couple of days. While he assured me I'll be okay after the surgery, I'm sure I'll still feel drained from it and all the hecticness that was this weekend.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Naomi was baptized today and it was such a beautiful event! Not only is the church gorgeous and the pastor a wonderful man, but the entire congregation was so friendly and welcoming. It was almost scary how friendly everyone was. And they were all captivated by Naomi. There were 5 baptisms, but being Pentecost, it was a beautiful sea of bright red everywhere. Naomi was wonderful and curious, only screaming when she was handed over for her baptism. And we had so many friends and family who joined us for the occasion. Just a wonderful day!

After the service, my mom and the godparents hosted a luncheon at a local restaurant by Loch Raven. Lunch was incredible and we had a great time visiting with everyone.

The evening was spent relaxing at the house, just Jimmy, Becky and me. Reflecting on such a special day... I'm so glad this is how things worked out.

What a busy busy day. Up at the crack of dawn to head to the Cathedral in Baltimore to meet with the pastor who's performing Naomi's baptism. That was at 9am and everything about the meeting made me so excited that we had chosen the Cathedral for the event. Father Brown is just wonderful and kind and funny and the church is gorgeous. Sunday is going to be awesome!

After the meeting, we stopped at a diner for a late breakfast and then headed to the godparents' house for the afternoon. I was exhausted and wanted to take a nap, but somehow managed to stay awake and be social.

We left there to head home and then left Jimmy and Naomi at the house so Becky and I could visit a friend for girls' night. We had dinner at her house and then watched Twilight in her movie theater. I really thought I'd sleep through the movie, but was entertained enough to stay awake. Great food, great company. Fun night and I'm glad we went. And my sister was a big hit with the girls.

But another late night. I'm gonna be dragging tomorrow!

It was a slow moving morning for us as we couldn't quite get ourselves motivated. But the day looked so awesome with plenty of sunshine so we finally got dressed and headed to the Enchanted Forest. It's this farm outside of Baltimore that has various fairytale figures up for kids to climb and play on. Jimmy remembers going there as a kid and when I looked at the website, it looked like a great place to take Naomi.

The drive down was beautiful. We finally found the farm, parked, and paid admission. Then we walked through the gate and... big thunder booms. We took shelter under a small pavilion near the gate and all of a sudden, a huge and nasty storm swept by. There was a birthday party going on in the pavilion and the parents were very kind and shared birthday cake with us as we waited for the storm to pass. The worst of it did move on, but a steady drizzle remained, so we headed out of the park without really getting to see anything. Dangit! Oh well, we'll go back soon.

From there we made a quick stop at Arundel Mills to waste some time before we headed to BWI to pick up my sister. On the road to the airport, we were 5 minutes from pulling into the parking garage and got a call from my sister, they were still grounded in Raleigh. She had boarded at 3:15 and was supposed to have taken off at 3:25, due to land at 4:25. Due to the storms in Baltimore, they kept delaying their take off and she didn't arrive at BWI until 9:10pm. Poor Becky was on the plane for 6 hours, 5 of them on the ground in Raleigh. We were at the airport with Naomi for 5 hours, and thankfully we had her stroller and she took a nap for an hour or so.

Still, a long night and we didn't get home till after 11pm. But it's great to have Becky here and we'll have a great weekend!

Yesterday:
Finish childproofing house? Check! Baby gates, electric outlet covers, door and drawer catches- all installed. Coffee table moved downstairs, replaced by cushiony ottoman.

Today:
Get careless with big knife and almost slice finger off? Check! Fortunately I cut it at an angle and didn't need a trip to the ER.
Feed baby geese at pond? Check! Though had to wake Naomi from a nap to do so, which meant she didn't go down for a proper nap till 6, which means who knows when she'll go to sleep tonight.
Run out of gas for grill in the middle of grilling dinner? Check! Fortunately it was chicken and easily tossed into the oven.

Still busy and not much time to pop online. Am skimming friends list even if I'm not commenting. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Last night we had dinner with the neighbors. Our other neighbors down the street were there as well. Fun night and Naomi had plenty of kids to play with. I love my street! We had brats and hot dogs with kraut, chicken and pineapple kebabs, tomatoes with mozzarella and basil, watermelon, lots of veggies, and pistachio cake and cupcakes for dessert. And I drank a lot of beer (Naomi refused an afternoon nap and was uber cranky, so I needed a few).

Got home and was ready to pass out, then noticed we had a voicemail from my mom who had to follow an ambulance carrying my great aunt. She thought she'd had a stroke. I called her to find out what was going on and they were in the ER doing all sorts of tests. She didn't want to talk on her cell while in the middle of the ER, so said she'd call me in the morning.

So I passed out at 10pm, only to be awoken by the phone at 10:30. It was my mom and I shot up, uber awake, thinking something was terribly wrong. Things were the same but mom just wanted to go outside to have a proper conversation. (After another update this morning, my aunt's okay... did not have a stroke. We think she took too many nitroglycerin tablets and then a Valium on top of it and it made her "not well".)

Passed back out after the conversation with Mom, but then Naomi woke up screaming at 11. I was too tired to listen to her cry herself back to sleep and I was also too tired to rock her, so I brought her to bed with us. She eventually passed out at 11:30 and I put her back into her crib and I went back to sleep. Then Bilbo woke me up at 1am to go out. Then Naomi woke back up at 3:30, though after a short cry, she put herself back to sleep. But at 5:30, she woke up for good, wanting a diaper change and bottle. I took care of all that, then brought her to bed with me. And then I don't know what happened because I just passed out and Jimmy took her downstairs. I was able to sleep in till 9am, which I needed! But I'm still tired today. Oh well.

Today was cold and rainy but we went to Gettysburg to hit the outlets. I need a dress for the Baptism this weekend and was happy to find one. We had a nice lunch at TGI Fridays and then made our way home. The rest of the day was pretty lazy, though Jimmy did manage to install the baby gate at the top of the stairs! YAY!

And now that the baby's asleep, I'm heading upstairs to pass out!

It's been a very nice weekend! Saturday we went to DC, taking along with us one of my BILs and we met up with Vege who flew back to Australia yesterday. We visited the Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Viet Nam War Memorial, WWII Memorial, Washington Memorial and then grabbed a bite to eat in the Natural History Museum. Naomi was awesome all day long and we had a great time!

Jimmy's off until next Tuesday and our plan is to relax as much as possible. We'll get out and do some things, but we're not planning them. If we do anything, it'll be spur of the moment. We will be going to Gettysburg one day (outlet shopping for a new dress for me and then sight seeing through the park). Then next weekend is Naomi's baptism.

Hopefully I'll have some opportunities to pop online this week.

Busy busy busy the past few days.
Tuesday- surprise visit from my sister in law and her son. Great visit, but kind of threw us off our schedule for the day.

Wednesday- Picnic lunch with neighbors and their kids at the nursery and petting zoo down the road. Lovely day and a lovely time, but Naomi didn't take any naps. Ugh! That evening Jimmy, his brother and I drove to Mt. Airy to meet up and have dinner with my mom and Vege (friend from Australia). Great dinner, but didn't get home till 10pm.

Yesterday- took Naomi to Jimmy's office in the morning for a visit and then met up with my friend Kai and her daughter for a play date. Went to Loch Raven to have a picnic and feed the baby geese and then went to Kai's house to play. Jimmy picked us up and we stopped at his parents' house for dinner before coming home.

Today we're going to chill!! And once Jimmy comes home tonight, he's off until June 2nd! Wheee!!

I'm having considerably less online time now that Naomi's mobile. I can't take my eye off her as she gets into every nook and cranny and I have no idea what her little fingers might find. We also don't have a baby gate up yet. So until I'm more comfortable with what she can get into/where she can go, all my attention is on her.

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!