Cutting the Cheese

What a busy day today! Aveline slept in this morning, so mommy did too! 7:45 am is definitely the latest I have slept in awhile. I don't think I will ever sleep past 9am ever again. Ever. The joys of parenthood!

We had early lunch guests, so we had to clean the entire house and prepare a meal. All this in a shortened morning! Aveline cooperated wonderfully, taking a good morning nap so I could frantically straighten up the house. I always wait until last minute to clean. We need to purposefully invite people over each month so the house will get cleaned! No joke! The funny thing is that once company arrives...the house looks the best it has in a spell, yet I procede to ask our guests to excuse the mess, and then blame the baby. I feel silly pretending that I haven't spent the last 2 hours straight swiffering dog hair, shining sinks or throwing clutter into anything with a lid. What are you going to do? I would love to hire a maid, just to get my house to a good starting point. I think I could handle maintenance. Maybe Dan and I should just lock ourselves in the house for a weekend and not emerge until we are unpacked and uncluttered. On second thought, better make that a whole week.

I made a wonderful marinade for some kabobs. I found the recipe on the internet. God love the internet. A good marinade makes two buck chuck steak taste like filet mignon. And you thought we served the good stuff! Ha. I did up some chicken breasts along with the beef. Dan cut up the zucchini, mushrooms, peppers and onions and skewered the lot. He also played the male role of "Grill Master" and cooked the kabobs to perfection. I am a lucky woman to have a man who will stand in front of a fire and turn meat intermittently, and do it for just a beer and a kiss.

Sarah, Dave and Rachel joined us for lunch and a visit. It was great to see Dan's family from Florida. It happens so infrequently.

Later that afternoon, I tried out a new present Aveline and I got...a sling. She really loved it. Dr. Sears says that a baby will enter a quiet alert state, a prime learning and developing period, while in the sling. He was right. She intently watched everything I did, absorbing my actions. She was so comfy, she even fell asleep. The sling allowed me to get more things done around the house, things that would have waited until her nap. We even had time to sit down and cube 10lbs of cheese for Emily's baby shower. I kept accidentally dropping pieces. Elvis enjoyed himself as well.

After all of the excitement of prepping food, we were both pooped. I gave her a long bath with lavender and fed her a bottle. She fell asleep right at 9pm. Literally. When the clock struck nine, it was like her power shut down.

Since the princess has gone to bed, I have done laundry, dishes, enjoyed a lovely meal of broccoli with cheese and a bowl of sherbert, packed our bags for tomorrow, wrapped three presents and typed out a game for the shower. Ok....so the sling can't compete with a sleeping baby, but it does help. We cut a lot of cheese in an hour.