On Wednesday I leave for a two day conference in Williamsburg, VA (I return on Saturday).  It’s my first time leaving Little Guy and I’m a bit anxious about it.  I know he’ll be ok, but we’ve never been apart for more than a few hours and I know I’m going to miss him horribly.  To all of the mommies out there having empathy pangs, please send warm thoughts my way so I don’t bawl the whole time I’m gone!

The conference is for BabyCrazy, the company I rep for.  We’ll get a preview of the 2006/2007 line, get our new catalogs, and get to meet the President and COO.  It will be a small group (there aren’t that many of us yet!), but I’m really excited.  There’s even a part of me looking forward to “getting away!”

Anyway, I’ll probably be quiet towards the end of the week since I don’t know what kind of internet access I’ll have (ack!).  If I do have access, I’ll try to post some updates during the trip.

I stumbled across Magic Dog Studio the other day and have fallen in love. Jennifer Blunt makes custom sterling silver jewelry out of your childrens’ fingerprints, handprints, footprints, or hand-drawn artwork. Imagine capturing those tiny handprints forever etched in silver or bronze… Or a necklace made from individual charms your child drew of family members. I’ve already sent the link to my husband as a not-so-subtle hint for our upcoming anniversary. [C, if you’re reading this, it constitutes another not-so-subtle hint.] Anyway, you must must must visit her website!

Luckily, I caught the domain issue quickly enough that it was easy to resolve.  When I finally managed to contact their supposed ever-present support team, they just charged me $9.95 and turned everything back on.  I don’t understand why I never received a reminder to renew.  I realize that it is ultimately my responsibility, but it seems like basic good customer service.  This is, of course, why I switched hosts in the first place.  I need to figure out how to switch the registration to my current webhost.  They have actual 24/7 live support.  I may even give them a plug - SurfSpeedy!  They aren’t perfect, but they are reasonably priced, and they provide real support.

I managed to let my personal domain expire over the weekend.  It’s a long, boring story how it happened, but obviously I didn’t know it was coming.  All of a sudden I started having trouble downloading my email, and… well, no domain.  My previous webhost claims to have support 24/7, but since I sent them a message on Saturday evening and did not receive a reply until late afternoon Sunday, I’m skeptical about this.  Perhaps they don’t realize that simply being able to send them an email 24/7 does not count as support.  My current webhost, on the other hand, does indeed have LIVE support all the time.  I can always chat with a tech support person, although I may be on hold for a few minutes.  The situation is causing me quite a bit of anxiety, since ALL of my private email goes through that domain, including bill notifications, etc.  I’m hoping I can get it resolved today, at least from their end.  Wish me luck…

I attended my first fair as a representative of BabyCrazy (and the Greeting Cake Company) this weekend. It wasn’t all that great, unfortunately. After spending an hour getting everything set up just “so” it started to pour. We were under a tent, but I was on the edge. Not only was the rain blowing in, but the water was flooding in on the ground, so we had to scramble to move all of our items out of the rain. The shaky weather meant that attendance was on the lower side and I was competing with a more well-known (and well-placed) toy vendor. That said, I did have a few small sales, and hopefully created at least a bit of a “buzz” about the company.

The good news is that both Little Guy and Big Guy stayed for the event. Little Guy had a great time watching all of the other kids and went until 1:30 with no nap. He finally fell asleep in his stroller from exhaustion, but not before charming the vendors around us.

I learned a lot about how to prepare and I had a chance to give out a bunch of MomPacks. I’m hoping that some of the folks who were too busy to stop and really look might check out my website out of curiosity. Oh, well. At least we HAD a tent!

Little Guy is standing like a champ.  If he holds on to something, he can stand unassisted.  What is the problem, you wonder?  He refuses to hold on to anything.  He’s had this issue ever since he was small that he doesn’t use his arms for much of anything involving pushing and pulling.  We had Early Intervention come for a visit, but he was only behind by a month in gross motor skills and he was ahead in a few others.  Anyway, he’s rolling over like it’s going out of style and pushing up and all of the things he was delayed on in the first place.  But he shows no signs of wanting to crawl or pull up.  Since he won’t hold on, pulling up is kind of tough.  Now, don’t get me wrong… I’m not in a hurry for him to start running around pulling things off of shelves and terrorizing the cats.  On the other hand, what kind of child doesn’t have an instinct to HOLD ON.  If he’s standing up and I let go, he falls backwards like they do in those trust falls.  He doesn’t even bend his knees.  It’s like he has utmost faith that I won’t let anything happen to him and he just let’s go.  Someday I won’t be there to catch him, though, and he needs to learn to protect himself a bit.  Does anyone have tips on how to teach him that lesson without just letting him fall?  This is the sort of kid who leans forward so far when he’s seated that he tips over.  He never even reaches out to steady himself.  And, in fact, the early Intervention people tested his reflexes to see if he would reach out to protect his head if he was falling from a high spot… nope.  I am a bit concerned about what will happen to him when Darwinism goes into effect.

Sigh. I’d write something intelligent, except that Little Guy woke up at 2:30am, 3:30am, 4:30am (Big Guy took that one) and needed pacifier replacement or to be rearranged in his crib. He woke up for good just before 6, and it’s been downhill from there. I should add that Big Guy normally takes morning duty, except on Wednesday mornings and one day on the weekend. He does better with no sleep! I was commenting yesterday that Little Guy always wakes up early when I’m on duty, and sure enough… 2:30am. Normally he sleeps from 7 or 7:30pm to 7 or 7:30am, so you can see the problem.

As if that weren’t enough, you wake up to a screaming baby and howling cats. Everyone wants to be fed, and all I want is to sleep.

Oh, but that’s not all. As I’m getting up all night long, I keep stepping in a puddle on the bedroom floor. The air conditioning vent was collecting condensation, which then dripped through our ceiling and onto the floor. Big Guy was supposed to take care of it yesterday, but forgot. The joys of home ownership.

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Our house is currently ruled by two ocicats. They are a shorthair breed with spotted markings. Ocicats are known for their intelligence and for their need for human company. As a breed, they are adaptable, good natured, and slightly mischievous.

Here’s the problem… a really smart cat is a dangerous thing. One of our cats, Ushaira, gets into everything. First of all, she steals anything in a plastic container, tub, bag, etc. As an example, she stole a 5lb bag of Starburst Fruit Chews off the top of the refrigerator. She took a bag of toaster waffles out of the groceries, hid them in a closet and shredded the bag. We found the mess a week later. She breaks into the trash, and can open doors if they aren’t tightly latched. And I don’t mean that she just pushes them open – she jumps up, grabs the handle and turns it, and then pushes the door open.

We’re well trained. We never leave food on any accessible surface and she gets safely “tucked” away while we’re eating if there is anything left for her to lick, steal, or just knock off the counter.

She has her good points. When she’s not scratching at doors, pilfering food, or chasing her sister around the house, she’s very loving. She immediately claims the first free lap she sees, whether she knows the owner or not. She fetches. She loves chasing small, bouncy balls, and has an amazing vertical leap. She can catch a ball with her front paws! Oh, and have I mentioned that she’s about the cutest little thing ever?

Our other cat, Twirlies, is afraid of everything. She jumps at her own shadow. Other than the fact that she’s extremely vocal and loves human company, she’s not really typical of an ocicat. We love her, too, though. And she’s also very cute!

You’ll hear more about them as time goes on (and as food goes missing).

Our pool is finally crystal clear again! We went swimming and once Little Guy had adjusted to the water, we put him in his own little float. He loved being in the pool, but we spent most of our time trying to keep him from drinking the water. That kid will put anything in his mouth right now!