Time to Catch Up

Oh boy. There is a lot to catch up on. Some parts of this will be brief to save time! On Sunday morning, we went over to Baldwin Park where we watched Duncan and Shawn participate in a Track & Field day for the Finance department. Duncan was on the winning team and Shawn's team (he was part of Accounting) came in second. This was out of four teams. Shawn's claim to glory however is the fact that he and his partner tossed a raw egg farther than anyone else. Hey, that's something, right? After the event, we met up with Ron & Elaine at First Watch where we, by coincidence, ran into Seth Blanchard and Charlie Cutler. So that worked out well for Shawn.

When we got home, Calleigh went down for her nap and I started cooking. Uncle Terry came over on his Harley at around 3:30 to watch the Celtics game and the others arrived at about 4:30 which included Ron, Elaine, Aunt Wanda, Alan, Tangie, and Braelyn. It was just a small group. I really didn't want to invite over everyone that I knew and have to cook a ton of food. I mean, it's not like Calleigh is going to remember this birthday anyway. We played a game that Duncan and I created which consisted of pictures of Calleigh ages 1 - 12 months. Each person then had to figure out what age she was in the picture. Would you believe that Uncle Terry won the game with 6 correct? What a big surprise! After the game, we opened presents. Calleigh got a lot of new toys which is what we were hoping for. Fortunately, none of them are too annoying....yet. Lastly, we had the birthday cake. Let's just say my dreams of seeing my baby girl stuffing her face with birthday cake did not come remotely close to fruition. We all sang and I brought out her little cake with the candle. She was looking the other way for awhile but once she looked at me and saw the cake, she started crying. And she didn't stop. I took her onto my lap and took the candle off the cake but she kept pushing it away. I tried putting cake on my finger and giving it to her and she would have none of it. Finally, we just gave up. On Monday, I did try to give her cake again when it was just the two of us and there was no candle to be seen. But she still absolutely refused to take any of it and would hit my hand if I brought it close. So I think I can officially say that she is AFRAID OF CAKE. I can't imagine there is another child in America who has this phobia. The cake aside, we did have a very nice time and I'm officially ready for the toddler years to start.

Monday was also very busy. We took two trips to the airport in the morning. The first time was for Shawn and the second for Ron & Elaine who are off to Europe until June 7. Later in the day we took Calleigh in for her 12-month appointment at the Pediatrician. She has obviously wised up to what goes on there just like the dogs going to the vet. She was fine until we got into the exam room and then she started wailing. Fortunately the nurse was able to work around her cries and we determined that she weighs exactly 20 pounds (25% percentile), is 29 1/2 inches (75th percentile), and her head is in the 90th percentile. So we have a child with a giant head. Thankfully it doesn't look abnormally large on her body! The pediatrician was quite impressed that she has only been sick the one time and said that was a very notable event. She also was impressed that she could already throw a ball since that is a 15-month milestone. Of course, she's even been doing that one for months. All and all, she said Calleigh is a picture of health so we were quite pleased.

Monday night I went to my Bible study at which I received an urgent text message that Jon Lester was in the midst of pitching a no-hitter. Fortunately, Duncan taped the last two innings for me so I was able to see it when I got home. You have to feel pretty good for a guy who has recovered from cancer and then pitches a no-hitter.

Tuesday morning found me dealing with the property management company who is managing our rental. Our tenant finally paid rent on Thursday (5/15) which was obviously late. Naturally, being a reasonable person, I assumed I would receive these funds either on Friday or Monday at the latest. But no, Russell Properties said they wouldn't be able to mail my check until today, which if you do the math, is six days after the fact. I was quite perturbed by this information so I was making phone calls yesterday and came in contact with some rude and very unhelpful people. Needless to say, that prompted an email to the owner last night who, surprise, surprise, I have not heard back from. I'm about to fire the company unless I get something from the owner stating that the poor customer service (which is on ongoing issue) will be resolved.

Anywho, later in the day, I went to perhaps my final breastfeeding luncheon where I met up with Lauren and Caroline. The girls played around and weren't too disruptive. Oh, I forget to mention the other thing that made Tuesday a little crazy. We took my car in to the dealer to get some things checked out (my blinkers, broken nub on my shifter, etc). I knew I could use the van while Ron and Elaine are gone. So after we dropped the car off, we came back home in the van and Duncan went to get into his truck to go to work. It wouldn't start. This does happen sometimes. In the meantime, we had to drive over to Ron & Elaine's and get their Jeep so Duncan could drive that in the interim. I'm sure the truck will start now but he hasn't tried it yet. I hope my car is ready soon. I'm getting far to spoiled driving a nice mini-van with doors that open automatically when you push a button.

Today was a lot calmer. This afternoon I did take Calleigh to Walmart to get some pictures taken but we didn't have much success. I had to sit right next to her the whole time (Walmart's policy) so I wasn't able to try and get her to smile and she wasn't going to flash the picture lady her pearly whites. Of course, when we were just walking around the store, she would smile and wave at everyone who passed by. Go figure. Anyway, Walmart will let us go in for another session on Friday and I'll take Duncan along who can get her to smile.

So I think that brings us up to the present. In closing, I'll leave you with these two pictures of Calleigh from today where she is playing Peek-a-Boo behind our massage chair. Cute!