Daylight Savings Time

So previously I blogged before about my horrendous experience with the MVA in Maryland. I looked back to give a link and it turns out it was the Daylight Savings Time post. So, in honor/ coincidence of turning back the clocks this weekend, I will share my most recent experience with the government. {Prior Post} http://moorplease.blogspot.com/2008/11/daylight-savings-time.html

So you may or may not recall that Maryland required that I keep my first, middle maiden and married names as my full name. I could have dropped my maiden name and gone with first, middle and married names and kept just three but if I wanted to keep the maiden name I had to keep all of them. For SO many reasons I wanted to keep my maiden name (as my middle name) - but one of the better reasons and easiest to explain is that with the maiden name I have WAY better initials. We love monograms in the south - if you need a further explanation just let me know - I will be happy to expound on the subject (warning: soapbox topic).

So, I showed up at the DMV a couple weeks ago to get my license and register our cars here. It order to register the cars, I needed a license so I proceeded to the license line first. A "cop" shouted out commands to us in line and part of that rant included "If you are here for a transfer of license you need to be sitting over here" Of course, I had to ask - "What do you mean by, transfer?" Her response was what you might of guessed "I mean, if you are transferring your license." What?? Still not sure if I should get out of line and move over to the pews set up in the room with the words "Testing" above them or stay in the line that says "Driver's License". I had to know though - so I asked again. She clarified her response by saying "I mean if you are transferring your license to Alabama from another state". Oh, ok, that's me - and BTW a few other people in line who were eagerly awaiting a real answer to my question. I got out of line and moved over to my space in line on the pew. She demanded then that we produce our documents to show we were capable obtaining a license today. I must skip over some of the side stories/ shows that were happening because otherwise this post would take ALL night. When she came by to "inspect" (her words) my documents she said "Why does your license have all these names?" My response "Because Maryland is ignorant." She laughed and said - we are getting rid of that middle name/ initial maaaamm. "That is ignorant!" And suddenly, my day of standing in lines to register vehicles while my mom sits outside in the car with Connor (we had to have both vehicles present) is WONDERFUL! YIPPEE! I am back to 3 names and I made friends with the crazy cop lady barking orders! Who would have thought going to the DMV would have turned out to be such a great day!

never know when you will need a Snuggie

Connor now says "hot, hot" in a whisper voice when he sees anything that comes from the microwave, oven, or stove. pretty smart and cute!
Last week was not HOT. We have REALLY bad luck when it comes to heating our houses. when colin moved into his first place there was NO heat. Why? well, we thought we did everything right. we called BGE and asked them to change over the service into Colin's name 72 hours in advance of the move-in date. after several angry phone calls to BGE we discovered that the prior owner had a dispute with BGE over his bill and that is why BGE failed to change over the service at our request. how is this our problem?? after several more phone calls we (I) convinced the manager that we deserved to have the heat on (since it was Nov. 1) and COLD and the dispute wasn't "our" dispute. we spent thousands of dollars over the next few years "servicing" the HVAC unit and realizing why the prior owner had a dispute. colin's first bill was over $500.00! Yikes!
this time we thought we were smarter and wiser so we asked the sellers to have the HVAC unit serviced and in working condition before we settled on the house. so you can guess what happened last sunday night when I innocently flipped the switch from a/c to heat. That's right -- NOTHING!!! nothing happened. we woke up Monday morning to a 64 degree house. Which isn't cold, cold but cold enough with a 14 month old who can't really sleep with blankets. And, since Connor was having trouble sleeping Sunday night anyway, I was camped out on his floor with a comfy but small blanket. At 4 am I was freezing and knew he was too so I got a blanket on Connor and pulled out the Snuggie for myself. Thank goodness for the Snuggie!! I was certain I was going to turn into an ice cube at 64 degrees! So anyway, the repair guy came today (it was 70 outside) and did his thing. We now have heat and luckily since we live in better weather now - we probably won't really need it for awhile again.

We found some outdoor furniture (I am picking it up tomorrow, yea!) and hoping that our yard will be finished before it rains again on Friday. So, I can finally post before and after pics. (Still haven't taken the pics though so it will have to wait for another post).

Friday Night Lights . . .

So, it stopped raining. Wonderful - now it is just cold (but better cold than raining). My mom and I were scheduled to take a photography class for infants and children tomorrow at the botanical gardens. I was really exicted for the class and to spend time with my mom and learn more about my new camera. I arrived home this afternoon to a message : Class Cancelled for lack of interest. Boo hoo. Instead tomorrow we will be shopping for patio furniture (you know Colin is thrilled!). New deck/ patio/ yard pictures coming soon (as soon as the yard is finished) - estimate is next week if the rains holds off. Here are some pics from a recent trip to the Botanical Gardens.




Our Friday night has consisted of making baby macaroni and cheese with broccoli. Ok, so it was delicious and so easy. Playing with Connor and putting him to bed. We are currently listening on the radio to my high school team playing their rival (Hoover) you may know the tv show on MTV (Two-a-Days). Well, we were up 20-0 at the half. The game is now a 3 point game with 30 seconds left . . . Agonizing to have to listen (rather than watch). Luckily we ended the game by sacking the quarterback (apparently - the announcers were totally pro-Hoover) so they didn't say "sack" but we will assume sack! Yippeee! Go Rebels!

rain rain go away . . . connor is 14 months old today!

it has been raining FOREVER. ok, maybe not forever but we have gotten almost 4 inches of rain this month! luckily it will stop for a few hours most days so we can get out for a walk. the weekend forecast is promising - no rain - but COLD weather. Connor's next ((scheduled) - don't want to jinx his health) -- doctors appointment isn't until 15 months but he is weighing in at 25 pounds with shoes and diaper on. He is talking more and more each day. He can now tell you what Aubie says "Beow" (i.e. "Meow" but Connor thinks it starts with a "B"), what the fishy says and what a gorilla does. Our favorite semi-new "trick" is when Colin or I sit in the "Connor Chair" (see 13 months old today post) - Connor will come and physically remove us from the chair - he is a strong buddy! Connor then climbs in his chair, smiles and points out his name written on the chair to "show" us - this is his chair - STAY OUT. Pics to follow later (hopefully today) - nap time is calling. . .

Busy in Baltimore

We have been busy travelling to and back from Baltimore over the past week. Connor and I flew up early last week and spent time with Caitlin and baby Will. We had a fantastic time. The week started off arriving in Baltimore just me and Connor. Connor has always been a good traveller on airplanes. As he gets older though I wonder each trip how he is going to react. This time he did great again. I had his new Britax car seat hooked up to the Go Go Kidz cart we received as a gift - it was very easy to maneuver and Southwest let us check the cart with the seat attached (so I didn't have to do any miraculous juggling once I got to Baltimore). Colin's step-dad met us at the airport and helped us get to the rental car location. He played with Connor until I rented the car and got the car seat installed. Other than breaking a little sweat - things were going very well. . .We had a quick lunch with Connor's godmother and grabbed some groceries for the week. I have been so slow offering Connor real food (mainly because I have food allergies and so does my dad) but I can't wait to stop buying baby food! You know I was making his food - and I loved making it and I can't wait until he will just eat what I make. I was so sad to buy jar food for him - but with the travelling and move this year I just couldn't keep it up. Last night I did give Connor a chicken nugget and he LOVED it! He wouldn't eat his other food - he was a fiend for chicken. He also makes the chicken sound (which I don't know how to spell correctly) "bawck, bawck". Too cute. Which I guess means he is ready for real people food even if i'm not.

Connor and Caitlin and Will and I (well Caitlin) drove up to New Jersey for a quick visit. We were so excited to go and see our good friend Lisa from college and her two babies. Lisa is a super talented photographer (in her spare time - still not sure how she has spare time with 2 kids). Anyway, Lisa married one of my other favorite people from college and it was so good to see her and the kiddos. Lisa was sweet enough to take some photos of our boys for us. She posted one on her blog of Connor and Will - check out her blog - http://ltphotoshare.blogspot.com/2009/10/best-friends.html

On Thursday morning we headed downtown to have lunch with Miss Mary. Connor loves Miss Mary and we got to see Mary's office and meet some co-workers. We had dinner with Mom Mom, Grandpa Bob and Uncle Neal. Colin arrived Thursday night and we headed up to Hagerstown so Colin could play in a golf tourney with his dad. Connor and I hung out with his Grandma Cathy, went shopping for new clothes and even went to brunch at the Club with Pop Pop. On Saturday (after a disappointing loss in the tourney), we headed down to DC. I forgot how much I don't miss driving in the rain in Maryland and DC. Honestly, it seemed like it took forever to get there (I did miss a turn which added about .5 miles and thus 30 minutes to the trip.) But we arrived just in time to see Kevin and Leslie and their new baby boy Mr. Daniel! Daniel was such a cutie! We couldn't stay long (since Connor couldn't visit we had to take turns) but we will be back up to see our new friend soon!


Back to Baltimore where we got ready to root for the Ravens.
Connor and Will getting ready for the game


My first Ravens game since 2007. As luck would have it our friend Brooke bought tickets for all of Colin's high school friends for her hubby's birthday {well, his birthday isn't until the 10th of October but she bought the tickets thinking it was for the game on the 11th of October and somehow ended up getting tickets for the 27th of September!} I was thrilled she made the mistake because this was the only game I was going to get to go to and so I got lucky and got to see all our Baltimore friends at the tailgate and game!
Yes, Colin is the ONLY person alive that tucks his jersey in! Love you!


We had a fabulous time and Connor enjoyed hanging out with his Mom Mom while we were at the game. Monday morning we headed back home. Happy to be home now but we sure do miss everyone already. Connor is walking nearly 100% of the time and is keeping us running.

New Shoes . . .

Since Connor is walking fairly well and often and my mom read a friend's blog and discovered that her baby had new shoes . . . we went shoe shopping today. My mom picked us up this morning and we went to a great shoe store (one that I shopped in as a little girl). (NOTE: according to my mom when I shopped for shoes, it would take SO long for me to decide on a pair of shoes that the salesman would bribe me with belts and other accessories to make a decision). Since Connor can't speak entirely for himself yet, this trip was fairly quick. We had the whole store to ourselves and Connor got his first pair of real shoes. The shoe store takes a picture of each child in his first pair of shoes (HOW CUTE IS THAT??) - so I scanned in the photos they gave us today (for all of you to see) plus I took a quick pic of the shoes for a closer view.

13 Months, today

Connor is 13 months old today - it kinda snuck up on me since we have been so busy lately. Caitlin and Will were home for a few days (and then we convinced them to stay a little longer (all week!)) so we enjoyed seeing and playing with baby Will. We are sad that they have gone back to Baltimore - but we will see them really soon! Here is a picture of Connor in his new Connor chair - he loves it as you can see . . .


Connor is now walking about 1/2 the time - maybe a little more than half. It is pretty funny to watch him try to stay balanced. He walks and sometimes tries to wave at all his toys as he passes them by . . . really cute, I know. He is also talking up a storm. I swear (and so have a few other people) that he says "Mom, I want that" and points to what he wants. We are trying to teach him some other words. So far, he has mastered saying "moon" and "puff". Our house projects are nearly complete - can't wait to post pictures of the final product soon!