what a day!!

on our first full day in hawaii, we had quite the evening, and i have some big news to share!! if i didn't say this before, we are on vacation with our second family, the sorrentinos. the parents all went to pharmacy school together...and have both been married for 30 years. the dads surprised the moms with a wedding vow renewal ceremony at sunset on the beach. it was beautiful! we were told that we were going to take a family picture, so we went to the best flea market ever and got matching dresses! when we went to meet the "photographer", there was a minister there and the parents renewed their vows. it was really cute. what great marriage role models both couples have been.
THEN...after the minister was done with the renewal ceremony, papou asked if anyone had anything to add to the ceremony. and would you believe barrett stepped up and, in front of a beautiful sunset and all of us, ASKED STEPH TO MARRY HIM!!! it was so romantic and great! aunt steph's ring is beautiful! uncle toby took some pics and i will try to transfer them and post them later today. chris got everything on video too! we are so thrilled for barrett and steph and wish them the very best!
for a thalia update, she spent a bunch of time in the pool with her daddy yesterday. she had the cutest hawaiian surf shirt on. we got her a cute matching dress for the renewal ceremony too. she is just hamming it up out here. we are having a lot of fun. (but we do miss you (o: )

much love and a bit more sleep (thalia has adjusted to the time change amazingly well)
c, c, and t

merry christmas!!

as always, being home has left me strapped for time to update my blog! here is a quick and dirty update...i will write a longer version when i get to HAWAII! :oP

so thalia and i made it safe and sound to michigan last friday...i think we were one of only a handful of flights allowed to land that morning! what weather to come back to! saturday my cousin alexis got married to her sweetie stefan...what fun we had!! i have to get some pics from facebook to put on here. she was gorgeous! and aunt steph and i didn't look too bad either ;o) and since going to a wedding isn't enough to do, we went to my aunt and uncle's house for lunch beforehand and had a mini-christmas with them since yiayia and papou were in town.

sunday we had christmas with papou's family - what a feast! thalia got some wonderful presents from her great aunts and uncles. i'll put some pictures up at the end. the rest of the week has been running around getting ready for christmas! yesterday we went to church and had gamma and gampa and aunt jen and uncle walt over for dinner. thalia got her first tractor! then today we had brunch at great-grandpa denhart's and then dinner at great-grandma betty's. what a whirlwind!!
now, it is 915pm and i am just starting to pack for our trip to hawaii. i cannot wait - i really need the break. i'll make sure to take lots of pics of thalia in her swimsuits and in the sand for you.
being back in michigan has been really great and it has been wonderful getting to see everyone. i have been so busy i have forgotten how much fun it is at home. it will be hard to go back to north carolina in a couple weeks...but we'll be okay :o)

we hope you all have a wonderful christmas, that you got to spend some extra time with your loved ones, and that you have a wonderful start to a new year! thanks again for all your love, prayers, and support. thalia would not be as great of a kid as she is without the influence of all of you! we love you!

much, much love and a little sleep,
c, c, and t


OH..the pictures!! here you go!!
thalia's first christmas present
pretty thalia
thalia's christmas dress
thalia's first tractor
christmas morning

feeling better

what a day i had today! it isn't worth getting into...the important thing is that i am doing much better now that i got to snuggle with thalia for a little bit and that once she went to bed, i got a bunch of chores done.

sharing pictures of her makes me really happy too so lucky you get to benefit from my bad day :o) all of these are from our thanksgiving trip to see aunt dr. nikki and uncle toby in san diego.

yia yia tried to make thalia knee guards so thalia's knees wouldn't get rug burned...as you can see, they turned out to be more like leg warmers. good effort yiayia!

ask aunt steph what happened when she was messing with thalia's cheerios!!

daddy likes to give thalia things she shouldn't have...i think he gets it from grandpa (frosty anyone?)

obviously thalia doesn't mind!
thalia figured out how to pick up two cups in one hand! so proud!!

among my daughter's other talents...we taught her how to wave! although she waves with her arm straight out like she is in a parade! cracks me up every time
uncle toby had fake poop on the ground and of course chris' daughter found it and put it in her mouth. the boys thought it was hilarious

thalia did NOT like the feeling of the sand. i'll have to get the other picture from papou...the water was cold too. i love this picture though! she is so funny.

speaking of papou...they got to spend a lot of time together that weekend. there are some precious pics...

hope you enjoyed that!

much love and a bit more sleep (and almost the end of my week!)

c, c, t

oh my

my poor baby is having a rough couple days. when it rains, it pours, i guess. thalia caught a nasty cold somewhere over the weekend. she is so congested and stuffy. her nose is running and she is coughing terribly! i feel so bad for her. and on top of that, her second bottom tooth is coming in! i think more than just that one is coming in though because she has been chewing on her fingers and her toys for the past few days. you can just see the top of the second tooth. she is so pitiful! last night she didn't go to sleep until almost midnight! i had to lay with her on my chest on the couch for almost two hours. she laid there quietly, but she wasn't sleeping. then she woke up every hour and half!! not a good start to my first day back to work with her by myself! it actually went fine - until i got to work!
mondays are always really tough. in the morning i have overlapping staff meetings from 9-12. today the second one went over so i didn't get out until 1230. then i had to run and pump (sorry guys) before something else came up...lately i haven't been able to pump as often as i would like because my days are so busy. but i don't want "i'm too busy" to be the reason i stop nursing. i just think that is a weak excuse. anyway, once i got back from that i had to catch up on a ton of stuff before my back to back meetings at 3 & 4. then i had to finish a few things that needed to be done today...i didn't leave until 545!! whew! what a day. tomorrow is going to be pretty crazy too. hopefully wednesday and thursday should be better...then friday thalia and i leave at the crack of dawn for chilly willy michigan! yay holidays!
oh, i guess i didn't tell you the great news. i work for the Advair team, and under advair is an asthma person and a copd person. most of the work i have been doing has been for the copd person. well, that person is a contractor who came in to help out when another associate was out on leave. her contract ends at the end of december, but really she was done in the office last week. because i have done such a good job and have impressed everyone, they are putting me in charge of all the copd research!!! that is really an amazing responsibility, and the fact that i get that chance after only being down here for 3 months is pretty crazy. it is a wonderful opportunity for me to show my stuff and hopefully solidify a more long-term position here towards the summer. i really felt the pressure of all that today though. a number of reports and requests and research issues came up today all at once and i was feeling less than adequate. but my team is really supportive and they have been super helpful. it will be a lot of work, but i think it is going to be great!
chris went home yesterday :o( he said he enjoyed his week down here. it was really super nice having him here to help me straighten up the apartment and get caught up on some chores. not to mention thalia adores her daddy and she liked spending so much time with him. thalia did fine back at daycare today...her little friend was home sick so thalia got a lot of personal attention, which was good since she feels so lousy.
luckily for me, thalia fell asleep a little while ago. i know it is early but i am going to tidy up the kitchen and try to get some early rest myself. hopefully tonight will go better than last night. wish us luck!
we miss you all so much. hopefully we can connect with some of you over the holiday. if not, north carolina is about 30 degrees warmer than michigan and indiana right now :o) thalia and i would love some visitors!!

much, much love and very little sleep
c, c, and t

apologies

first and foremost i have to apologize to aunt jelly. when i was listing the entourage of people we had in san diego for thalia's first thanksgiving, i forgot to mention that aunt jelly flew in from denver to join us. and we were thrilled to have her there...and even more thrilled to get to visit with her in the airport when our flights were delayed!!! ;o)

thalia and chris flew down here last friday morning. i must admit that it is weird having chris here. i almost forget where i am sometimes. but i am so excited to have had him here for over a week! we are really blessed to get to spend so much time together this month.

so i started typing this post sunday...its now friday! i really thought this past week was going to be better than last week. yeah right. saturday we had lunch with my college soccer coach. that was a lot of fun! then we were going to "stop by" martha mama's and uncle ronnie's. we didn't leave until after 10pm! chris got some stomach bug sunday then monday it was off to work, flight to dallas, research in dallas from 730 - 5 on tuesday, flight to raleigh, at work at 815 wednesday to watch the FDA advisory committee meeting, left work at 630, back to work at 8 thursday, there til 530, then off to frank and laura's for dinner. that was a lot of fun - but we didn't get out of there until after 10. then back to work at 815 this morning! whew! thank goodness chris has been here to clean the apartment, do the laundry and watch thalia. we have been having a lot of fun together. i am glad i am only going to be here a week by myself before i head home - i am going to be so lonely! the craziness isn't going to stop until probably mid-january. we have three more days of research in the first two weeks of january!! luckily yiayia is going to take some time off to help me with thalia. not to mention in the meantime we are going to HAWAII!!!! i am really looking forward to just laying around and relaxing without having to worry about anything. i am a little nervous about thalia adjusting to the time change but i think it will work out. at least we are going with everyone so there will be plenty of babysitters :o) i may even get to have an umbrella drink!!

here are the latest pics for you. sorry to do them all at once...feast or famine i guess.

chris took thalia to the store. while he was changing her diaper she peed all over herself. she had been throwing up at gamma's house the day before so her extra diaper bag outfit had been taken out! so chris took off his zippie and wrapped her in it! and of course he just kept on shopping :o)
this is another hat yiayia made! you kind of have to look hard but the top looks like an upside down daisy with the stem sticking up!! it is too cute. its still a little big though. it will be great for february or march, if it ever gets cold here. it was warmer here at midnight than it was in dallas during the day tuesday!

thalia got to try cheese and edamame for the first time the other day. she was NOT sure about all of that. she ate it though. chris tried to give her more cheese the other day but she was not having it. maybe she'll be like me! hey - at least i offered it to her!

here is a family pic at the beach in san diego. aren't we cute?!

that's all for now! chris, thalia and i are off to my boss' house for our team christmas party.

much love and a lot more sleep (thalia has only been waking up once the past couple nights!!)

c, c, t

family pics

i can't believe i never posted any of these pics. the pumpkin ones are from a month ago now but i think they are to die for! the restaurant pic is from our trip to see uncle toby's parents in november. ps...i started a poll for all of you based on these pics :o) enjoy!


much love and not so much sleep (since i had to wake up so early today to catch my flight back to raleigh, i did the "let's wake up every two hours to see what time it is" game. i think i got less sleep without thalia last night than i would have with her!)
c, c, and t

Love you!

I know, I know…I am getting coal, or reindeer poop, or snowman poop, or some other lame stocking stuffer because I have been very naughty, not updating the blog in so long. I apologize for that, but it is not as easy as it sounds working from home. Thalia and I headed home over a week ago to attend Chris’ great grandma’s 99th birthday party. After that, we had dinner with my godparents, then headed up north to spend time with my grandparents. Wednesday we had fakes-giving with Chris’ family, Thursday morning (at 430am) we left for San Diego to spend time with Aunt Nikki and Uncle Toby. Our flights got all messed up coming home, so Chris, Thalia and I didn’t get home until 1am Monday morning. Monday afternoon I flew back to Raleigh and this morning I flew to DC for a day of research. Anyone still want to complain that I haven’t had time to update the blog? I didn’t think so ;o)
I guess that’s what I get for taking my daughter and moving to North Carolina. I get to cram a year’s worth of stuff into one weekend. With all the craziness, I was glad that we got to go to Thalia’s great-great grandma’s birthday party. I have pictures from all of our visits but I didn’t get a chance to email them to my work computer. I will post them as soon as Chris emails them to me. The trip up north was definitely worth it too, although it was a harrowing experience. Michigan had some bad snow storms roll through so driving became a bit treacherous. Then, when we were only a couple miles from my grandparent’s house, we saw a car that had flipped over into the ditch. Chris pulled over and had to break the back hatch to get the guy out. Luckily the guy was okay! We waited for the police to show up then we finally made it to the house. What fun Thalia had playing with her great-grandma and great-grandpa!! They don’t call them “great” for nothing!
And we had a wonderful time with everyone in San Diego. YiaYia and Papou drove in, Aunt Steph and Uncle Barrett flew in, and our friends Alex and Eric drove down from LA to spend Thanksgiving together. What a good looking crowd! And they all had a blast playing with Thalia – though it took her a while to warm up to Alex…I think it’s the hair ;o) We taught Thalia how to wave…although she does it with her arm completely outstretched, and sometimes straight up in the air, like she is in a parade or something. It is the funniest thing you have ever seen! I think YiaYia got a picture of it when we got to the beach. Speaking of the beach, Thalia does NOT like feeling of sand on her hands or her feet. We put her on a towel and she crawled to the edge. Once her hands got on the sand, she looked back at us and put her hands out and started crying! It was so cute! I took her to the ocean to see the waves, but that was a little scary. But we did wave to the surfers. I put her down so she could get her feet wet but the water was really cold and she didn’t like that either. Luckily YiaYia was there to rescue her from her terrible mother and they snuggled on the beach as we watched Uncle Toby and Uncle Barrett surf. Well, Uncle Toby surfed…Uncle Barrett kind of paddled around. But he gave it a valiant effort. We were all very proud of him. After lunch at In-n-Out Burger, our trip to the beach was complete.
Thalia is now in Michigan with her dad until Friday when they fly back down to Raleigh and Chris gets to stay for over a week! It will be nice to get to spend so much time together the last few weeks of the year.
Work has been pretty crazy. There are a lot of projects going on and a lot of uncertainty with jobs and responsibilities heading into next year. I knew it was going to be busy working on the Advair team – it is the largest brand for our company. I don’t think I realized how involved I would be in the busyness. The way my interview went, it sounded like I would be doing a lot of grunt work the first part of the rotation and get to be part of some fun projects at the end, kind of like a reward. Instead, I was pretty much pushed into the middle of the deep end without any floaties. The nice thing is that there is a lifeguard – my team. They have been very cognizant of my workload and ensuring I am not left out on a limb by myself. I’m not really complaining…I would rather be in the thick of things than just watching everyone else work. I just don’t think I was quite prepared to be given so much responsibility so early on. I think the bigger issue is that all this travel is eventually going to kill me. It’s important to me that Thalia get to see her extended family and that they get to see her, but I think Chris and I are going to have to have a serious discussion about the travel arrangements for next year. Unfortunately, with the holidays here and trips already planned, it is not going to get any easier in the short-term. Wish us luck!
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are staying warm. LOADS of pictures to come in the very near future.
Very much love and a bit more sleep,
c, c, and t