updates

• Laine has a new friend whom we have dubbed "Mr. Gerald" (who knows if that will stick once she can talk). I'd been trying to get her to bond with a "lovey"... or a moderately creepy blanket with an animal head on top of it. Definitely makes me feel all warm and lovey inside. But anyway, other moms I know swear by them as far as something to cuddle and comfort. But Laine had seemed totally unimpressed and uninterested by the 4 million loveys we have from all my baby showers... until Mr. Gerald. They seem to have bonded quite nicely.

• The Challenge continues! I am sneaking up on the first goal (10 pounds) and feeling good. It was definitely difficult for me to change the way I shop and when/what I eat and what I crave and control portion sizes and yaddayaddayadda but now that it has been a few weeks I am feeling the difference and liking it. I've also gotten back into the gym for the first time, which felt great. I'm hoping to work something out so I can go while Joe is with the baby a few times a week.
• Joe and I have made the big (HUGEENORMOUSGIGANTICMASSIVE) decision to look into buying a house.
  
• We are going to buy a house.
• We have to find a house that we both like and can afford. That has a yard.
  
• Did I mention that stuff is happening about a house? But seriously, we realized that there really won't be a better time for us to buy than now, what with the buyer's market and the tax incentives and whatnot. We've done a lot of online shopping around and gone to see a few places and have 2 contenders so far. We're actually talking about putting in an offer on one of them... and that is when Joe starts to twitch and run around the house waving his arms around yelling "DEBT! DEBT! AHHHH!" and then collapse in a shaking little ball of anxiety. Or was that me?