Hover, don't sit...

Alice takes her first steps

A day short of 11 months, my little Avocado is now a toddler. She took her first steps today. Mr Wonderful was home to see it. Here's proof:

The modified American Dream

So my condo is on the market again. This time I will not move out until it's actually sold, as opposed to the last time when Mr Wonderful and I found ourselves in a situation where we were paying 2 mortgages and 1 rent. That was about $2500 a month before utilities. Talk about a bad run around the Monopoly board.

Back to present time. We've got the condo listed and we're dabbling at open houses in a few areas, but will not be writing an offer until we've sold. Our idea is to do a temporary move to Denver, but sublets are taken up until September because of the Democratic National Convention. Then we'll more than likely move back to Indy and buy a 3-bedroom bungalow with a dog-ready yard. Mr Wonderful doesn't think that we're getting a dog, but Alice and I know differently.

But before we do all of that, we have to sell the condo and spend a few months in Bermuda on Mr Wonderful's Company's dime. But I'm sure that's nothing you haven't heard before.

Check out the condo listing here.

Alice's video blog post

Since I haven't been posting lately, Alice has recorded a video blog to let you know what's been happening.

Date night plus one

Fortunately, Mr Wonderful and I been able to have a date night almost every week since the Avocado's birth. Usually Aunt Jenny watches her while we go out, but we've found that an infant is extremely portable, and since Alice is such a happy little squirrel, we've included her in the fun.

Alice has been to restaurants, museums, historic landmarks, movies, and even a musical.

We went out for a fancy-schmancy dinner at Elements on New Years and took her along. I'm thoroughly impressed with Elements and can't wait to go back. Yeah, they might have tried to kill the two nut-allergic people at our table by sneaking pine nuts in the salad, but that was a minor setback considering how sinfully delightful the food was.

Alice slept through the whole thing, but enjoyed breast milk flavored with fois gras, truffle oil, and venison later that evening. The topper is that Mr Wonderful gets to expense most of the dinner back to his work since he was out of town for his holiday party.

Alice & Grumps

Dot org my ass

I just got a $30 bill for a few videos that were less than a week late at my local library. Even cold and corporate Blockbuster has more relaxed late policy and fees. I don't know if I'll ever borrow from the public library system ever again. I'm maddest.

That was easy - unusual staples

Something has recently happened to me that I never expected. Pre-shredded carrots have become a staple on my fridge. Random, right? Stir frys, soups, and salads that have become a part of my weekly dishes all call for shredded carrots.

This new development got me thinking about other unusual staples in my kitchen. There's the his and hers coffee creamers, the can of mandarin oranges, the frozen strawberries, the frozen blueberries. Whenever any one of these things is out of stock in my kitchen, I'll make a special trip to the grocery, which is a huge deal when toting an infant.

Abandon cat

Priscilla T. Cat was adopted by Barrett, my "gay boyfriend" and former roomie.

In the past, Priscilla didn't much care for Barrett, but then Mr Wonderful moved in and started verbally abusing her. Priscilla asked me, through vomit, urine, shedding, hissing, and crying, to relocate her. I've had Priscilla for 6 years, and it was a difficult decision to opt for finding Priss a new home rather than just getting divorced.

Now Mr Wonderful is traveling around the country and I'm left at home without a cat to keep me company. On the plus side: I haven't had to Swiffer in 4 days!

Date night - abandon child

Our date nights as new parents are more stressful to me than I'd like. Grandmas on either side keep pressuring me to leave my newborn with them overnight. I'm just starting to let her sleep in another room, so letting her sleep in another town is totally out of the question. I'm really uncomfortable with the fact that people keep bringing it up as a logical option.

Our anniversary is coming up and I'm being bombarded by people who are trying to convince me to abandon my 4 month old for overnight while we have our dinner and drinks and hotel stay in Oklahoma City. I know at some point I'm going to let her stay at Grandma's, but I don't know if this is the time.

Readers with kids: please give me your input on how you know both your infant and you are ready for an overnighter.

Multi-tasker

We just got cable television! This is the highlight of my year, really. Alice is a close second. So now, with our new leather couch, cable television, and wireless internet, I spend my evenings watching cable television and surfing the internet on the couch with most of my buttons undone so that my postnatal gut is comfy. What can I say? I'm a multi-tasker.