Peanut has gotten much more interactive in the last few weeks. She’s still trying to figure out how all the parts work and how to move this finger or that finger but she’s much more alert and active. She responds to you when you look at her and tries to talk back to you. Here’s a few photos taken just after waking up. She’s always in a good mood when she wakes up and when she opens her big eyes and sees you starring at her, she gets all smiley.

Here’s Monkey, talking to herself.

Here’s me trying to get her attention. She’s totally distracted by the lights.

Becky’s been kind of cooped up in the house so I  demanded! generously offered to babysit. I will take any opportunity to get that child to myself.

The really think I’ve developed an addiction to her. I have to keep reminding myself that everyone else isn’t taking the same crazy pills as me and that they aren’t utterly convinced that she is the most perfect baby in the world. (It’s totally true and I’ll defend it to the end!) They don’t want to hear about how she learned how to suck on her fingers and not her whole hand now, isn’t she aMAZING?!!!!

BUT I DON’T CARE. My baby is perfect. I’m going to talk about her. And I’m going to post about her. So. Expect hordes and hordes of baby photos very soon.

I joined the gym about a week ago. There’s a tiny little gym about a block from my house that costs way too much. In order to justify the ridiculous cost of a NYC gym, I swore I would go. For whatever reason, I’ve been going with a dedication matched only by the religious fervor of my youth. I’ve been 9 out of the last 10 days and instead of dreading it like normal, i’m loving it. My blood sugar is more stable than it has been in months. I have more energy. I’m on a more normal sleep schedule. And I feel hot. Really hot. I’m hoping this isn’t just the honeymoon stage and that I can keep it going.

Sometimes when I’m on the treadmill or the elliptical machine, I pretend that that smiley trainer guy from The Biggest Loser is cheering me on. (I only watch that show because Becky makes me, I SWEAR.) I hear him in my head, hollaring at me. “30 more SECONDS, KL! FINISH STRONG!” And of course, I’m totally the biggest loser and all the other overweight contestants are in awe of my focus and passion.

Some friends and I took a day trip up to Hunter Mountain for a day of snowboarding fun. While it is no Breck (NEXT WEEK!!!), it was amazing to get on my snowboard again.

the three of us on the chairlift….

an all too typical photo of me. Why do I always wave at the camera?

Siris had a little “incident” in the park. He comes snowboarding up to me at the end of the trail, and asks me, “am I bleeding? am i? i think I hit my face.”

You think?

Mike and I, being steezy fresh

I was googling pictures and I found this cute blog by Ethan, who is in second grade and loves animals.

You need a customer service bracelet: WWTD? What would Terri do?

Am I awesome.com?

I went snowboarding the other day for the first time this winter. I think I’ve been pretending it wasn’t winter so as not to feel the effects of not being able to snowboard every day as I have for the past 3 winters. It’s not winter, just an obnoxiously cold fall here.

But being there brought all that back, reminded me of how much I love snowboarding. I love the rhythm of it, the artistry. It truly is an art, a calming peaceful art. And I miss it. I miss the mountains, the sound of snow falling in the backwoods, my friends and family there.

But you know the theory. The grass is always greener. If I were there I wouldn’t be able to see this so often:

Jaylee’s just starting to smile. It still takes a lot of coaxing. This is one of the first one camera smiles we’ve gotten.

I love this clear-eyed look of hers, the “who are these people?” look.