She's got the beat

I spent most of my time this weekend with Zoe. I missed her when I was in the land of expensive cars.

That kid doesn't disappoint. She can make me laugh harder than I ever thought possible. Like when she'd take her bottle out of her mouth at bedtime and fake cough. Then she'd just smile.

Not only is she entertaining, she's growing so fast. This weekend she started to dance. We were at the mall, passed a store playing some hip-hop music and she busted a move without thinking twice. She has some rhythm. She even taps her foot like she tap dancing. Dance Emporium here we come!

Last night at dinner, we had the Backyardigans on and she started singing with them. She can't say the words so it came out, "blah blah blah." In a sing-song voice. I thought N was going to shoot Mt. Dew out his nose. It was the cutest thing ever.

Now she sings to all her stuffed animals. Lamby got serenaded during a diaper change.

I love watching her grow!

Hello 21st century. It's nice to finally meet you.

I've been known to scowf at technology. I used to think those people with DVD players in their cars were totally absurd and some kind of rapper.

Then I took a road trip with a 20 month old. Those people became technological geniouses.

I spent some time in Scottsdale this week. I'm sad to say, none of it was in a spa. That city is something close to the Beverly Hills of Arizona. It is insane. Yeah, they have three lines for valet parking at the mall. I saw a $120,000 Mercedes and a 19 year old got out of the driver's seat. Then a $250,000 Bentley pull in behind them.

That was before I got into the mall and saw only designer stores that I've seen on Project Runway.

I guess you could say I was forever changed.

Because I came home and entered the rat race we call the 21st century. I bought a new iPod Nano. In blue.

Now I can safely say, "where have you been all my life?" Now I can listen to the BeeGee's, Elton John, Linkin Park, TobyMac and Tenth Avenue North all in the same rotation. Does it get any better than that?

Friday Five Faves - vol. 17

I know I said I wouldn't be back until the weekend, but between the massages, the facials and the body wraps, I figured I could fit in a Friday Five Fave.

Oh, I kid. I can smell the wonderful, relaxing aromas of the spa and I may have zoned out during the morning meeting to visual myself being pampered. I really don't think they'll miss me much during the afternoon sessions.

Or you know, my flight doesn't leave until 9 tonight, so I could fit something in before take-off.

It's the little thoughts like those that keep me going.

1) I went to Starbucks this week to discover this:

The red holiday cup! YEAH! I don't know why, but I swear my coffee tastes better in this cups. I'm a little disappointed they did away with the peppermint, red sprinkles this year. They replaced it with peppermint whipped cream. I don't get the whip cream. I feel that by not getting it, I'm saving myself 13 grams of fat per cup. Which is huge!

Again, all about the little thoughts.

2) 2:00 am bottles. Ever since Zoe has had a cold, we've been getting up in the middle of night for a bottle again. I think all the swallowing helps clear her nose. While having my REM cycle disturbed isn't my favorite thing, having Zoe cuddle into me and rub my arm while we sit in her room is. It's those bonding moments that make the lack of sleep totally worth it.

3) My new sweater from Lerner New York. It's totally comfy and the perfect autumn find. I seriously could wrap up in and not come out until spring.

Or you know, when it needs to be washed.

4) Daylight Savings Time. Zoe didn't quite enjoy Daylight Savings Time like she should've. Last Saturday I was up 6 times that night. Apparently the whole time change was just too confusing for her. Her internal clock was all messed up. Here's the cool thing about. I get to experience it twice. In the same week.

I don't quite know how this works, but Arizona thinks DST is a total waste of time. They do not participate. I gained an hour on Saturday, lost an hour yesterday and I get it back tonight. It's my own personal version of Quantum Leap.

5) Midnight showings. In my single days I was known to go see movies at midnight to claim being the very first to see it. The last movie I did this with was the most recent Star Wars with N. I'm proud to say that I just bought midnight showing tickets again. For Thursday, November 20th. To see Twilight the movie. I'm totally stoked.

Leavin' on a jet plane

Today and tomorrow I'm in Scottsdale. It's sunny, warm and they've put me up at a luxurious spa. Unfortunately I'll be in meetings most of the time, but perhaps they won't miss me too much if I'm not back right after lunch. A girl needs her post-lunch facial as much as she needs air to breathe.

I'm just sayin'.

I'll be back this weekend.

If they can get me out of the spa.

She says the words that make her mom's heart sing

Or you know, re-write the words to Barry Manilow songs. Apparently I'm a fanilow.

This week has been a huge week for Zoe. She's full of words now. Although she's not 100% aware of the fact that you have to say the entire word for it to work. Then again, her people understand her, so what's the need?

This week we have 9 new words. She's so proper about it. Most things start with "a" or "an." Makes the Communications major in me excited.

"a pup" is a puppy
"a pump" is a pumpkin
"a cuh" is a cup
"a cah" is a car
"a bah" is a ball
"a took" is a cookie
"a duh" is a duck

We also can say "pat" and "up."

She's learning so fast. N and I are truly blessed to be her parents.

Her long flowing hair

Her grandma Kathy taught her this.

It's her version of long flowing pig-tails.

It keeps her entertained for at least 20 minutes. She runs around letting her "hair" catch the breeze.

The Carnage

Halloween was fun. We got a total of three trick-or-treaters. If you're keeping track, I bought three bags of candy. If I had the ability to see into the future, not only would I be wealthy and have thought of writing Good Will Hunting, but I would have given each of those kids a bag of candy each.

Instead, I was hedging my bets. The house won. I had three bags of candy staring at me all weekend. It was torture. Fortunately N offered to take the candy to work.

That wasn't the real torture of the weekend. My candy addiction is nothing compared to our good friends The Jack 4. It's not like the Jackson 5, it's our 4 Jack-o-lanterns and their 4 mini cousins.

This year, in addition to the 4 Jack-o-lanterns, I carved out 4 baby pumpkins and lined our walk with those. I think it says "come trick or treat at my house." At least it did to three lovely children.

It was no easy task to carve out those baby pumpkins. Their skin is so tough I needed a hack saw just to get through. I may have a small puncture wound on my left palm from a slippery pumpkin and the bread knife.

All that blood, sweat, tears and mumbling about how stupid this was, really paid off. Our house really did scream "come trick or treat here."

Zoe would run up to the pumpkins, bend way over and then yell at me like "there is some light coming from inside that pumpkin. Come look." She would've definitely trick-or-treated at our house.

You would think that a poor turnout of trick-or-treaters and three bags of candy to drown out my sorrows, that would be all that was in store this weekend.

Alas, God has a sense of humor.

They look like deer to the human eye. I am convinced they are God's stand-up team.

This was the Jack 4 on Saturday morning.

Well, the Jack 3. The smallest Jack-o-lantern is MIA.