Babies!

No - not from me....just go ahead and kill that idea before it grows!

I've been lucky enough to have two new babies added to my life through my friends Hillary Rhodes and Ashley Griffith.  It truely is an amzaing thing--the addition of a person into each of these families.  Both babies are so beautiful!   I unfortunately don't have a picture of Sephora Grace to add here, but I do have a couple of Elijah Lucas (Ashley and Chad's new baby).  Clarification-I have lots of pictures, just these two uploaded to add here!

Eli likes to touch his face....and that outfit ended up dirty in the next five minutes :-)

I know I haven't blogged in quite some time so I wanted to get something on here until I have time to get some good pictures and other updates posted.  Lots has been going on!

Ashley was kind enough to include me in the labor process for her.  Not that it's about me in any way - but it made me feel really special to be called her "labor coach".  She has many special girls in her life that could have been there to support her, but only a small window of people she's able to ask.  I lucked out and got to take part in Eli's birth.  It was really amazing to see what she had to go through to bring Eli into this world.  Not that I expected anything less, but Ashley seemed to handle labor with the same grace, poise, and strength that she handles the rest of her life with.  She was so focused and determined during the whole process - she almost made it look easy.  That's not something I think I can live up to if I ever have the priviledge of giving birth, but at least I know it's possible now!  Ashley is such a strong woman and she really amazed me that night.  Eli was born at 2:28am April 2nd (she was determined not to start pushing until April Fools Day was OVER!).  Chad was there every step of the way being super supportive and giving her little massages along the way.  And then, all of a sudden, Eli was laying on Ashley's chest and Ashley was looking around like nothing had happened--just as beautiful as she always is--like that wasn't the hardest thing she had ever had to do!  Incredible!  It was an honor to be present and definitely something I'll never forget.  Thank you, Ashley, for letting me be a part of your life in this way.  I promise to partner with you and Chad to raise Eli to love God and his Word. 

What a huge blessing our "Community Group" has received these last few weeks.  God is truely blessing our lives as we move along this bumpy road together. 

"Restroom Closed"...seriously?!

(Warning : I don't know what to blog about, so I'm just going to ramble...good luck)

So, things must be getting tight here at Mylan.  Evidentally they're really focusing on streamlining our work processes because they keep closing the restrooms!  Maybe we're not getting enough work done so they think if they randomly close bathrooms around the building, we'll just give up on finding one that is open and usable and get more work done. 

There are three bathroom areas (that I am aware of) in the Greenbag Road Mylan offices.  I am positioned 62 steps from one, and 74 steps from the another.  The third one seems farther, so I've never counted the steps.  What do you mean "why did I count the steps?"  That's a silly question.  To increase the efficiency of the time spent away from my desk of course  (I also know how many steps it is to the 2 closest break rooms too).  I can't help how I am...

So, the bathroom that is closest to me (we'll call it bathroom A) has been shut down for at least two weeks now.  There was no warning, just a sign on the door "Restroom Closed".  As I am a creature of habit, I continued to walk my 62 steps to bathroom A each new day, forgetting that it was closed, or sometimes remembering-but thinking "surely they have done what they needed to do by now."  Of course, I end up looking silly every day -having to stop-turn around-and walk back the way I came.  Of course, this has forced me to walk to the restroom that is 74 steps from my cube (we'll call it bathroom B) after walking back from the other.  Yes...I walked back to my cube, and took the route from there to the other bathroom....it's the fastest route...don't you trust me at this point??

I finally came to the acceptance that bathroom A just wasn't going to be available for a while, and walked to bathroom B this morning for my first "bio break" of the day.  You guessed it...it was closed.  So, what did I do?  I walked back to my cube, and then over to bathroom A.  It was open.  (Praise the Lord).  I tried to figure out what has changed in the room.  What is it that was causing this two week closure? It seems quite bland now.  I think they changed the tile floor from black and white checkered to just a cream tile? Or maybe it wasn't black and white, maybe it was hard ceramic tile changed to that thin cheap stuff?  Not really sure, but the floor seems different...

The funny thing about all of this is that other people are going through the same failed trips as me.  You hear/see a couple of people walk one way past your desk...and then about a minute later, walk by the opposite direction, and then again back to their desks.  You hear things like "did you know?", "I didn't know", "well where are we supposed to?"....you get the gest. 

Luckily, bathroom A is back on the market, so I will be able to regain my "bio break " efficiency that I once had, thus increasing the time "working" that I spend each day.  I think I would like to celebrate this by taking the time to walk to the third bathroom and counting the steps.  Any bets on how many it will be??

I dunno...nothing is interesting...

So, I do want to keep up with this blog, but I'm telling you - life just isn't that interesting lately!  Not that it's a bad thing, but it's pretty much been lots of the usual stuff....lots of work, which is highly confidential...and church...and a few tv shows here and there to stay "in tune" with current culture.  (I gotta be hip you know...)

I think the most interesting thing about my life right now is that I have some great friends that are pregnant...what a crazy thought.  A little person is growing in a sack of liquid...that will one day give people hugs, talk back, drive a car, and maybe even create another little gooey sack of a person.   Really crazy how God worked that out.  I really like having pregnant friends.  I was thinking about why it is that I like it so much...I think it's because it gives me an excuse to touch their belly.  No, wait...that's not it....that would be creepy...Maybe it's because I will get to know a little person that is God's perfect blend of their parents-whom I love.  I dunno...it's just such a neat gift to grow something...but much better than growing fresh herbs  (basil, parsley..you know).  I can't wait to see their faces...and maybe try to corrupt them in some way, because that's what friends are for ;-)

Here's a picture of a couple of them - Ashley and Hillary....what cutie pies they are pregnant :-)  Again, I apologize for the poor quatlity of my camera phone - but it's so much easier to load those pics than my real camera.

Showers

I am blessed to have some friends that are pregnant right now.  I love seeing their pregnant bellies poking out from their completely normal sized bodies...what a strange concept that God came up with.  So along with pregnancies come Baby Showers, which I love to go to!  One that I went to last week was for Hillary Rhodes, who is in my church "community group" and her husband also works with Adam at the church as the college minister.  Hillary is having a girl and has chosen a theme of birds for her nursery.  She's gotten some completely adorable things going on with these birds, so she wanted to follow that theme by having bird cupcakes at the shower that her mother was throwing for her in Morgantown.  Hillary asked me if I could make these toasted coconut and Jordan almond covered cupcakes for her shower :

Sorry they're so dark - I couldn't find my camera so I had to snap a few quick ones with my phone.

I also wanted to share another cute cat thing....so sorry.  As I have mentioned in the past, Lexi sleeps by my legs on most nights.  The other night I woke up in the middle of the night, realized that I was squished over into Adam and couldn't move back over.  I looked down to see what was blocking me and it was the cutest cat ever....Lexi...She had turned perpendicular to me and had her paws covering her face like she was playing peek-a-boo in her dreams.  I thought it was cute and went back to sleep.  I woke up about an hour later, only to find her in this exact position.  She was sleeping the entire night with her face covered.  So...I took a picture...what else...

 Also notice that she had pushed the covers back to sleep directly on the fitted sheet.  Not sure why she does that, but it's pretty common with her sleeping habits.  Strange.

I know, I know

Shame on me for not blogging in the new year...has it been that long?  Wait..let me check...

Ouch...before Christmas even.   my bad...

So what has happened since then, you ask?  I'm not sure I have the time to catch you up, but I'll just skim through some highlights that I have pictures for.  I am definitely too lazy to have downloaded all of the pictures from my real camera, so the phone camera will have to do for now. 

Christmas - what can I say?  It was great!  Adam got me some dishes (cause I hang a thing for dishes) and purse covers - actually, quite a lot of things with the budget that I gave him to work with.  Job well done, Adam.  We went over to Tony and Kathy's house to spend the day with them, Tyler, and Adam's grandmother who was in from Oklahoma.  We were able to skype with my family while we were there and also with some friends of ours that have moved to North Carolina.  We spent the day eating and playing games.  One of which, Adam is now obsessed with.  Here is Tony, Tyler and myself after our first game (I think).

Mylan offers several days off over the holidays, so here is one of those days.  Yes, Lexi likes me too, it's just rare that I get my picture taken with her.  Of course, she doesn't lick my armpits like she does Adam, but I would like to think that is a compliment in some way :-)

Ok, since we're talking about Lexi, I might as well throw this one out there.  When we first got Lexi, my grandmother sent me a little box a goodies for her, which included a little purple collar with a bow tie and a bell for her.  At the time, she was much too small for it, so we put it away in a basket that we have of her stuff.  I happen to run across this little collar, and it was so cute, so I figured Lexi would fit in it now and decided to give it a try.  Now, if you have any experience with cats, you know that the majority of the do not like to be held still.  Well, Lexi is this way - which is why I skillfully planned my attempt at getting this collar on her.  I successfully slipped it on her and backed away.  Yes, the bow tie was cute.  No, she did not like something on her neck.  Did I mention the bell?  Well, evidently Lexi couldn't figure this whole "bell thing" out because the second she moved, it made a noise, which caused her to turn the direction that she heard the noise coming from, which caused her to turn again, which made the bell sound again, which caused her to turn again....well..you see where I'm going with this right?  It was like she was chasing her tail, but with jolted pauses every quarter turn to look freaked out and confused.  I couldn't help but laugh and then of course I did the good mommy thing and tried to corner her and take it off.  When I showed Adam this little trick later, we snapped a picture.  She seems so calm...but she wasn't...trust me!

For New Years, we got together with some friends to celebrate - watching poor Dick Clark giving it another try.  It's kind of a sad way to bring in the New Year.  The next day we had "First Sunday" at church - it's a worship heavy service on the first Sunday of the year...hence the name.  It was very...what's the word...unique.  Yes, that's the word.  There are pictures on facebook from it, with the word "ONE" in giant letters in the middle of the stage - to symbolize the unity that we want to have in our church.

The next weekend, we went to New York City with some great friends :-)  It was cold...I didn't think about that when we planned it...but it was fun none the less!  Here's a few pics from the trip. 

Chad and Adam waiting for their pizza for lunch.

The city as seen from the top of the Rockefeller Center.  (did I spell that right??)

The show that Adam and I saw...it was ok :-)

After NYC, we have stayed busy with lots of fun.  All of this fun has given our bright green couch all of the stains it can take.  From us dropping food on it, to ink pens leaking from pockets, it has definitely seen better days.  We got the last stain on it 2 weeks ago and I finally gave up on it.  I LOVE the green couches because they're comfortable and such a great bright pop of color. The problem is that the fabric is a thin canvas.  It just doesn't wear well, especially when you have to scrub it to get stains out.  Luckily, we decided to keep the loveseat that is in almost perfect condition.  It will live in our office and bring me joy every time I see it. The couch on the other hand, will be living at the church's coffee house, SOZO, downtown...probably with a blanket of some sort over it.  At least it will be comfortable for lots more people...sad times.  Since we decided to get rid of the green, we found a new set that has lots of promise.  It will be delivered on Friday.  I think the best thing about it, is that we paid a little bit extra to have it treated with a "shield" product, knowing our history with stains.  It has a 10 YEAR WARRANTY on it!  If we get a stain on it, or a tear, or snag in the fabric, they will REPLACE IT!  Isn't that awesome?!  Just what we needed to help this furniture to last as long as possible.  Here's a picture of it in the store.  It's the same style of our old one, because we liked it so much, but thicker fabric and a non-pillow back that will hopefully be a little more sturdy. Notice the rust color...we can't just go with neutral, ya know...

 Alright, last but not least...snow days.  It has been snowing quite a lot lately, which as most of you know, I am very happy for.  I usually don't have a problem getting around in it, but one day last week, I decided not to take my chances and to just work from home.  It's nice having that option since I work from a laptop.  I set up shop that morning in the living room at 8am with my pj's on and my pink snuggie wrapped up tight.  I worked until lunch, when Adam joined me for a bite to eat.  I then moved into the dining room so that the living room could be used for "entertainment purposes", aka, TV and Play Station 3 :-)  I was very content with my little workshop area at the dining room table and then was quite distracted by what I saw.  Here's my view :

Now, if you notice, that's one of our extra chairs that sits in the corner next to the keyboard.  Evidently, Lexi found this small space to be cozy, because she sat there on her back legs staring at the corner for quite some time.  When I decided to take a picture, she evidently was curious as to what was on top of the chair.  See her little paw there??  Cute.  That's the best I can describe it without you seeing a video of what happened next...ok...you convinced me.  Here's a video of what happened next.  Be patient...

I hope that this update has been a sufficient substitution for my lack of blog postings.  I will try to do better...I promise.